While plans may have changed slightly, the circumstances of 2020 could not derail a meeting of musical minds.

Brock University’s Faculty of Education will co-host the seventh international Narrative Inquiry in Music Education Conference (NIME7) on Thursday, Oct. 15 and Friday, Oct. 16, held for the first time online.

Nasim Niknafs, Associate Professor in the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music, is helping to organize the Narrative Inquiry in Music Education Conference.

Co-hosted by the University of Toronto (U of T), the event will bring together international research scholars to conceptualize theoretical and methodological narrative ways of knowing in music education.

Organized by Shelley Griffin, Associate Professor in Brock’s Faculty of Education, and Nasim Niknafs, Associate Professor in the U of T Faculty of Music, the conference was initially scheduled to take place in person this year at Brock.

After COVID-19 forced the cancellation or postponement of large in-person events, Griffin and Niknafs decided to move ahead with an online format.

The theme of this year’s conference is Trauma, Resilience and (Re)Engagement in Music Education.

Open to the community, the event will include 32 presentations covering a range of theme-related topics while tying in scholarship that impacts music education, the broader arts community and teacher education.

The keynote speaker will be Joshua Pilzer, Associate Professor from the University of Toronto Faculty of Music.

The conference also includes a virtual music performance by the Avanti Chamber Singers, Brock’s Ensemble-in-Residence, under the artistic direction of Rachel Rensink-Hoff, Associate Professor of Music at Brock.

The NIME conference is free to attend and is open to faculty, students, staff and the broader community. Anyone interested in attending must sign up by Friday, Oct. 9 on the conference website.

Sessions will be hosted on Microsoft Teams on Thursday, Oct. 15 from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and on Friday, Oct. 16 from 8:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

For more information, please contact NIME7@brocku.ca