The Pop Conference returns to the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music for four days of in-person and virtual events featuring Grammy-winning musicians, award-winning journalists and renowned scholars. The 21st annual gathering – the oldest public conference on pop music and writing of its kind – will focus on the meaning of gathering, pop music’s role in hospitality and conviviality, and the power and politics of dance music.
Let’s Get it Together: Gatherings, Club Cultures, Parties, and Beyond takes place April 27-30, 2023 at the NYU Tisch School of the Arts’ Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, 370 Jay St., Brooklyn.
The four-day event features more than 30 panels and discussions, mentorship sessions, performances, and two keynote addresses. All sessions are free but registration is required and space is limited. Audiences will be seated on a first-come, first-served basis. Information about registration, scheduling and accommodations is available at popconference.org
“I'm so glad that the Pop Conference will be back in person this year, and that it's returning to NYU for the first time in eleven years. The Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music is the perfect home for the Pop Conference because as an institution, our mission is to train students as creative music entrepreneurs—and that includes encouraging them to cultivate their knowledge of music history and to think critically about music in all its contexts,” said Jason King, chair of the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music. “Pop Conference is like no other gathering in that it brings together such an unprecedented array of diverse writers, scholars and practitioners of popular music. Because this year's conference theme is about club culture and gatherings, everyone attending the conference—including students—will have the opportunity to not only discover a treasure trove of insightful music criticism, but to come together to dance, party and celebrate the music too.”
Award-winning music writer Ann Powers moderates the opening session, “Find Me in the Club: On the Power of Music to Move and Connect Us” April 27 at 7 p.m. Singer-songwriter-producer King Princess, indie electronic favorite Dawn Richard and electroclash legend Peaches will join Powers to discuss music’s role in bringing people together and reimagining new and safe ways to congregate and celebrate in the future.
Other sessions will examine how independent musicians navigate club culture, the politics of Reggaeton and finding community in music. Among the dozens of participants are musical artist Madison Rose, authors Jafari Allen and Aimee Meredith Cox, and NPR Music host Sidney Madden.
The Pop Conference closes on April 30 at 6 p.m. with King moderating a conversation about the connective powers of music with producer and entrepreneur Timbaland, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and Take A Daytrip, the producing and songwriting duo of Denzel Baptiste and David Biral.
Pop Conference is supported by Critical Minded, a grantmaking and learning initiative cofounded by the Nathan Cummings and Ford foundations to support cultural critics of color in the United States, and Paper Magazine, the independent, New York City-based publication.
About the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music
The Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University is the premier educational training ground for future leaders in the music industry. Founded by chief patron and music impresario Clive Davis, it has developed a reputation for recruiting and nurturing the most compelling new talent in the business. Alumni include dynamic young producer-songwriter Nija, musical phenoms FLETCHER and Raveena, visionary producer and performer Arca, chart-topping songwriters Take a Daytrip, Emily Warren and Madison Love, and Capitol Records' recording artist Maggie Rogers. The Institute, which officially launched in 2003 and has been the home of instructors like Questlove, Q-Tip, Bob Power, Angela Winbush, and Robert Glasper, boasts a steady stream of talented graduates barnstorming other industry areas like business, journalism, tech, and production.
