2025 Music and Culture Graduate Student Society Annual Symposium
Music, Sound and Liminality
Our graduate committee chose the theme “Music, Community, and Care” in response to the current global climate. In a time of great political, cultural, technological and ecological upheaval, there is an increasing need for both community and care. We find ourselves in a time of transformation, where music can act as a conduit for social change. In this graduate conference, we explore the role that music can play in reimagining and ethically engaging with care and community.
Download the 2025 Program (PDF)
Download the 2025 Schedule (PDF)
Keynote Speaker
Dr. Deanna Yerichuk
Associate Professor in the Faculty of Music, Wilfrid Laurier University
Dr. Deanna Yerichuk is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Music at Wilfrid Laurier University, coordinating the BMus specialization in Community Music. She is involved with Laurier Centre for Music in the Community, and the Centre for Leading Research in Education. Her research focuses on historical and contemporary issues of inclusion and justice in community music. She is Principal Investigator on two SSHRC-funded projects, and her work has been published in several journals and edited collections, including: MUSICultures; Canadian Music Educator, International Journal of Community Music; Handbook for Sociology in Music Education; and Action, Criticism and Theory in Music Education. Deanna is an associate editor for Action, Criticism and Theory in Music Education and for Art Research International: A Transdisciplinary Journal (past). As a performer, Deanna has worked as a singer-songwriter, conductor, and actor across Canada, and as a community musician, she led the voice and choral department at Dixon Hall Music School (Toronto) for five years and was a frequent guest conductor for Echo Women’s Choir (Toronto). Deanna also worked with Sing for Life (Edmonton) to pilot music classes for mothers in conflict with the law.