Das International Journal of Music Mediation (IJMM) ist auf der Suche nach Beiträgen für zwei Ausgaben: Die Einreichfrist für Texte zu „Transformation. Music Mediation as a Game Changer“ läuft bis 31. Dezember 2025; Artikel zum Thema “Participatory Opera and Music Theatre” kann man bis 31. Mai 2026 einreichen.
Transformation. Music Mediation as a Game Changer
Deadline for contributions: December 31, 2025, call for papers
Recent years have been marked by profound and ongoing change across societal, cultural, digital, political, financial, and ecological dimensions. These shifts are not only affecting our communities and institutions but are also shaping how we engage with music of all genres as well as the role musicians play as change makers in society (Gaunt et al. 2021). For some time now, a paradigm shift has been observed in the cultural sector: there are calls to think about cultural production from the perspective of mediation (Mohr 2023, 25; Wimmer 2022) and to view mediators as strategic experts in transformation. In practice, however, the transformative potential of music mediation is often overlooked or even ignored, and music mediation is reduced to an ‘affirmative’ function (Mörsch 2012, 116; 124-133).
Transformations in the context of music mediation take place on an individual and structural level. They concern, on the one hand, artistic processes in concert and participatory settings, and the associated individual aesthetic experiences (Pizzolante et al. 2024; Fischer-Lichte and Wihstutz 2018). However, this does not imply an intention to change participants or audiences in a targeted or normative way, nor to measure such effects (Matarasso 2019, 119-120). Rather, the focus lies on enabling open-ended experiences and co-creating spaces in which transformation – if it occurs – emerges from within the shared artistic process.
On the other hand, intra-music mediation (Müller-Brozović 2025, 7) has a structural effect: it changes not only the music mediators and musicians themselves, but also the ensembles and institutions involved. The focus of study in this case is not on the audience or participants, but exclusively on the impact of music mediation projects on those managing and implementing them. Through such intra-music mediation, individual changes are linked to structural changes. This has an impact on organizations and their cultures, requiring changed management processes and new definitions of leadership, collaboration, quality, institutional strategies, and priorities (Pébrier 2021). Overall, this call addresses transformations at the micro, meso, and macro levels and how these levels and transformations influence each other.
Transformation is not understood as a plannable optimization, but as a profound, open-ended process that makes music accessible in all its genres and facets. However, the role of music mediation as a key agent and architect of transformation remains insufficiently explored and theorized. This issue will include selected contributions from the 2025 conference “Transformation – Music Mediation as a Game Changer” held at the Bruckner University in Linz (Austria), as well as new contributions submitted in response to this open call, which will bring in contrasting, new international perspectives. We invite theoretical, empirical, artistic-research, and practice-based articles as well as portraits or interviews with music mediation practitioners. Interdisciplinary perspectives – drawing from music sociology, psychology, education, cultural studies, arts management, and related fields – are especially welcome.
Proposals for articles may address the following areas and questions, among others:
- Individual and structural transformation processes and change management in the context of music mediation (among the initiators, organizers, performers and facilitators of music mediation, but not among the audience and participants)
- What transformations are emerging in the field of music in artistic and structural terms?
- Who and what are changing, and how?
- What cultural, socio-political, and educational framework conditions enable or hinder a transformation of the music field toward a greater diversity and accessibility of musical practices?
- What theoretical references (e.g., in sociology, psychology, cultural management, cultural studies, education, etc.) can be used to understand these changes?
- What challenges are associated with these transformations and how are they being addressed?
- Which future scenarios might influence today’s practices and in what way?
- The role of music mediation in artistic and culture-organizational transformation
- What function does music mediation play in artistic and structural transformation processes?
- How can music mediation become a shared attitude and task for ensembles and cultural organizations (rather than being delegated to a specific person or department)?
- What are the goals, the beliefs, and the discourses of music mediation in a transformative setting?
- How does the independent/freelance scene contribute to artistic and culture-organizational transformation?
- The consequences of transformation processes for music mediation
- What new understandings of leadership, impact, and quality arise in transformative music mediation?
- How can artistic and culture-organizational transformation be made visible and/or evaluated?
Exploring these questions will contribute to a better understanding, a new positioning, and the further development of music mediation in the context of a changing society.
Deadline for contributions: December 31, 2025
Editorial Feedback: before January 31, 2026
Peer Review: until March 15, 2026
Manuscript Revision: until May 15, 2026
Proof Reading and Plagiarism Check: June 2026
Publication: July 2026
Bibliography
Fischer-Lichte, Erika, and Benjamin Wihstutz. Eds. 2018. Transformative Aesthetics. New York: Routledge.
Gaunt, Helena, Celia Duffy, Ana Čorić, Isabel R. González Delgado, Linda Messas, Oleksandr Pryimenko, and Henrik Sveidahl. 2021. “Musicians as ’Makers in Society’: A Conceptual Foundation for Contemporary Professional Higher Music Education”. Frontiers in Psychology 12 (August): 713648. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.713648.
Matarasso, François. 2019. A Restless Art. How participation won, and why it matters. London: Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. Available online: https://arestlessart.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/2019-a-restless-art.pdf [19.05.2025].
Mohr, Henning. 2023. “Zeit für Transformation(en). Notwendige Paradigmenwechsel in der Kulturpolitik”. In Systemkritik! Essays für eine Kulturpolitik der Transformation, edited by Svenja Reiner, Simon Sievers and Henning Mohr, 23-27. Bielefeld: transcript.
Mörsch, Carmen. 2012. Time for Cultural Mediation. Available online:
https://www.kultur-vermittlung.ch/zeit-fuer-vermittlung/download/pdf-e/TfCM_0_Complete_Publication.pdf [05.05.2025].
Müller-Brozović, Irena. 2025. “Towards a Resonance-Oriented Music Mediation: A Theoretical Foundation of Vibrant Music Relationships”. International Journal of Music Mediation, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.71228/ijmm.2024.9.
Pébrier, Sylvie. 2021. Réinventer la musique dans ses institutions, ses politiques, ses récits: essai. Collection Musiques – Pédagogies. Château-Gontier: Aedam Musicae.
Pizzolante, Marta, Matthew Pelowski, Theresa Rahel Demmer, Sabrina Bartolotta, Eleonora Diletta Sarcinella, Andrea Gaggioli, and Alice Chirico. 2024. “Aesthetic experiences and their transformative power: a systematic review”. Frontiers in Psychology 15 (328449): 1-22. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1328449.
Wimmer, Michael. Ed. 2022. Für eine neue Agenda der Kulturpolitik. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter.
Participatory Opera and Music Theatre
in collaboration with SIMM (Social Impact of Music Making)
Guest Editor: Lukas Pairon, founder SIMM
Deadline for contributions: May 31, 2026, call for papers
Opera and music theatre, traditionally associated with grandeur, hierarchy, and exclusivity, are undergoing profound transformations. Across continents, a growing number of artists, institutions, composers, and communities are reimagining these art forms through participatory practices – where creation is not done only for but also with others. Whether embedded in schools, hospitals, neighbourhood centres, prisons or refugee shelters, these projects invite a radical shift: they challenge established notions of authorship, virtuosity, and audience, while exploring how collective artistic processes can foster social engagement, visibility, and even transformation.
This special issue 5 of the International Journal of Music Mediation (IJMM), guest-edited in collaboration with the SIMM research platform (Social Impact of Music Making), seeks to explore the contours, challenges, and potentials of participatory opera and music theatre. We invite scholarly articles that delve into the aesthetic, social, pedagogical, political, and institutional dimensions of this evolving field.
The issue emerges from an ongoing international research effort initiated by SIMM since 2023, with dedicated seminars hosted by the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona (2023), Hochschule Darmstadt (2025), and soon at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (2027). These research seminars have demonstrated the interest in examining how opera and music theatre can engage communities as co-authors – not merely as passive recipients – and how these practices might reshape the art form itself. Participants share insights into both the deep creative joy and the ethical dilemmas that participatory opera provokes.
We are particularly interested in contributions that address how these projects are imagined and implemented: How do composers and creative teams navigate the balance between artistic vision and shared authorship? What new aesthetic languages emerge when artistic professionals collaborate with community members whose life stories, bodies, voices, and identities reshape the narrative? And what are the institutional challenges when large cultural structures take on participatory work – is it genuinely transformative, or does it risk becoming a marginal gesture in order to ‘tick the box’ of social inclusion?
At stake is not only the future of opera and music theatre, but also the broader question of cultural rights and access: Who is allowed to create, to be heard, and to shape public imagination? Participatory projects often bring together people with vastly different social experiences, and this encounter can generate powerful moments of resonance – but also tensions. We therefore also welcome critical reflections on the limits of participation, the potential for misrepresentation or extraction, and the risks of aestheticizing inequality. How do we avoid instrumentalising the participants’ personal stories or turning collective trauma into spectacle?
This special issue also invites methodological innovation. We are keen to include studies based on ethnographic research, artistic research, practice-led inquiry, and interdisciplinary approaches – as well as collaborations between artists and scholars. Authors are encouraged to reflect on the impact of their own positionality within the projects they study or lead, and on the co-production of knowledge within artistic settings.
By gathering these voices, the IJMM hopes to offer a space for careful reflection, productive friction, and a deeper
understanding of what participatory opera and music theatre can mean in our time.
Contributors are therefore encouraged to respond to one or more of the following guiding questions:
- Authorship and artistic vision
How do composers and creative teams navigate the balance between artistic leadership and shared authorship? - Aesthetic innovation
What new aesthetic languages or dramaturgical structures emerge when working with nonprofessionals or marginalized communities? - Institutional challenges
What happens when major cultural institutions engage in participatory practices: is it genuinely transformative or tokenistic? - Ethical complexity
How can artists avoid aestheticising inequality or instrumentalising personal and collective trauma in participatory opera? - Cultural rights and access
Who is allowed to create, to be heard, and to shape public imagination through opera and music theatre? - Limits and tensions of participation
What are the risks of misrepresentation or extractive practices in these projects, and how can they be mitigated? - Knowledge and method
How can we document and analyse participatory opera and music theatre in ways that honour both artistic quality and social impact?
Papers (6,000–8,000 words) should be submitted via the IJMM online platform and follow the journal’s style guidelines.
Abstracts (max. 200 words) and author bios (max. 150 words) should accompany each submission.
For further information or questions, please contact: petri-preis@mdw.ac.at
Inspiration may be drawn from the SIMM report on the 2023 Barcelona research seminar, and from SIMM Podcast episodes #17 and #18, which explore the voices and insights of some leading practitioners and researchers in this field.
Deadline for submission of manuscripts: May 31, 2026
Response to authors: before June 30, 2026
Peer Review: until August 15, 2026
Manuscript Revision: until October 15, 2026
Proofreading and Plagiarism Check: November 2026
Publication: December 2026