/ Conference: Call for papers

Call for Papers
Festival of Faith and Music, April 2-4, 2009
Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI

Keynote Speakers: Cornel West, Makoto Fujimura, Andy Crouch

Confirmed headline artists: The Hold Steady, Lupe Fiasco, Over the Rhine

The Festival of Faith & Music is a biennial conference that brings together musicians, journalists, academics, students and lovers of music and popular culture to discuss diverse forms of popular music and issues of faith. We are interested in discovering and celebrating popular music that can be understood as rooted in conviction and/or engaged with themes of faith broadly conceived, including justice, truth, hope, epiphany, transcendence, and redemption, and in hearing or interpreting popular music from faith perspectives. Calvin College is a Christian liberal arts college which seeks to study and engage popular culture. Our festival is not primarily concerned with the Christian music industry or limited to discussing only those artists who publicly embrace a specific religion. Rather, we hope to facilitate a broader conversation about all forms of popular music and our response to it as people of faith.

Past Festivals have featured artists Emmylou Harris, Sufjan Stevens, Neko Case, and David Bazan. For this year's festival, we have invited The Hold Steady, Vic Chesnutt, Over the Rhine, and T-Bone Burtnett, and we anticipate the inclusion of many other artists. Our list of confirmed speakers includes Cornel West, Makoto Fujimura, Jessica Hopper, Terry Mattingly, Cathleen Falsani, and Andy Crouch.

We are seeking proposals for 20 minute (2,000-2,500 word) papers that address issues of faith in popular music and its various social and cultural contexts. We are particularly interested in papers related to our artists and speakers. Updates on confirmed artists and speakers can be found on the Festival website.

Please email a 300-word abstract (attached in Word format) to Drs. Benita Wolters-Fredlund and Mary McCampbell at ffmcfp[at]gmail[dot]com. Queries are also welcome.

Submission deadline: January 20, 2009