Celebrating Arts+, a year long focus on the arts at UMBC, and the Livewire Contemporary Music Festival, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) Department of Music solicits papers and presentations around the theme of “Trailblazers,” a festival and symposium scheduled for October 16-18, 2025. Organized by UMBC’s faculty contemporary ensemble RUCKUS, the Livewire Festival invites a broad investigation of musical and interdisciplinary practices through the lens of "trailblazing" in the arts via concerts, presentations, and workshops.
What does being a trailblazer mean? We are interested in diverse interpretations of this framework. We encourage submissions addressing artists moving in new directions, artists challenging barriers between disciplines and genres, and those establishing new pathways and structures for artistic practices.
We invite paper presentations, workshops, and lecture-performances that could address theoretical analyses, performance practices, historical investigations, comparative studies, and cultural studies. We welcome submissions from all scholars including musicologists, ethnomusicologists, composers, performers, music theorists, and researchers from other arts disciplines. Please note that submission of a proposal constitutes a commitment to attend the festival if the proposal is accepted.
The Livewire Festival celebrates contemporary music in a variety of genres and styles, drawing on the expertise of UMBC's faculty performers and composers and will take place in the our state-of-the-art Performing Arts and Humanities Building. To be considered, please submit a 250-word abstract, a 250-word biography, and supporting documentation (if desired) to Dr. Lisa Cella, cella@umbc.edu, by August 25, 2025. Presenters will be notified by September 1 of the status of their applications.