Held at the University of Ghana Legon, Ghana, on 14 July 2023. Participation was possible both in person and online. 

Chair: Lee Tong Soon, Secretary General.

In attendance (sorted by represented Study Group): African Musics (Christian Onyeji); Applied Ethnomusicology (Huib Schippers); Audiovisual Ethnomusicology (George Murer, Marija Dumnić Vilotijević; Ethnochoreology (Siri Mæland); Global History of Music (Kanykei Mukhtarova); Iconography of the Performing Arts (Zdravko Blažeković); Indigenous Music and Dance (Yuh-Fen Tseng, Mark van Tongeren); Mediterranean Music Studies (Vanessa Paloma Elbaz); Multipart Music (Ardian Ahmedaja); Music and Dance in Latin America and the Caribbean (Javier Silvestrini); Music and Dance in Southeastern Europe (Daniela Ivanova-Nyberg); Music and Dance of Oceania (Georgia Curran); Music and Dance of the Slavic World (Matěj Kratochvíl); Music and Minorities (Svanibor Pettan); Music Archaeology (Raquel Jiménez Pasalodos); Music, Education and Social Inclusion (Marie Agatha Ozah); Music, Gender, and Sexuality (Marko Kölbl); Musical Instruments (Gisa Jähnichen); Musics of East Asia (Hsu Hsin-Wen, Yang Yanzheng); Performing Arts of Southeast Asia (Made Mantle Hood, Mayco Santaella); Sacred and Spiritual Sounds and Practices (Irene Markoff); Sound, Movement, and the Sciences (Kendra Stepputat); Sources and Archives for Music and Sound Studies (Susana Sardo). Also attending: Don Niles (Chair, Executive Board Committee for Study Groups), Carlos Yoder (Executive Secretary). 

The meeting followed the attached agenda.  

1. Opening of meeting and introduction of the agenda

1. Lee opened the meeting at 19:05, welcoming all Study Group representatives. 

2. Brief self-introductions by each representative

2. Attendees introduced themselves and their represented Study Groups. The total number of represented Study Groups was 23. The only Study Groups not represented at the Assembly were those on Maqām, Music and Allied Arts of Greater South Asia, Music in the Arab World, and Music of the Turkic-speaking World.

3. Consideration of the minutes of the last meeting, and business arising

3. Lee called for a motion to approve the Minutes of the 4th Assembly of ICTM Study Groups, as published on the ICTM website. Moved by Pettan, seconded by Sardo, carried unanimously.
4. No business arising from the minutes was noted.

4. Announcement of any business arising from Executive Board meetings of interest to the representatives

5. Niles introduced three points of business that the Executive Board (EB) wanted the Assembly to consider: (a) Feedback on holding "Welcome Meetings" during the ongoing World Conference; (b) Opening the participation in Assemblies of Study Group Chairs to other Study Group authorities; and (c) Standardizing the structure of Study Group websites.

a) Feedback on holding "Welcome Meetings" during the ongoing World Conference

6. Niles related how the Executive Board (EB) had been delighted that so many Study Groups had embraced the idea of holding "Welcome Meetings" during the present World Conference, taking advantage of the possibility to engage with a worldwide audience (see item 6 of the minutes of the previous Assembly for more details).
7. Mæland (Ethnochoreology) commented she would prefer that Welcome Meetings held during a World Conference could be conducted exclusively in person only (i.e., without online participation), adding that additional online-only Welcome Meetings could be conducted at a different time. Yoder considered that the format of future Welcome Meetings should be decided by individual meetings' chairs, limited by the technology made available by the host organisation. 
8. Curran (Music and Dance of Oceania) asked whether the time of Welcome Meetings could be altered, to better accommodate people based in Oceania who would be attending them online. Yoder remarked that the primary audience for Welcome Meetings should be those joining in person.
9. After a brief discussion, a general consensus was reached that renaming Study Group meetings held during World Conferences from "Business Meetings" to "Welcome Meetings" had been a positive undertaking, which should continue in future World Conferences.

b) Opening participation in Assemblies of Study Group Chairs to other Study Group authorities

10. Lee introduced this topic, explaining that the ICTM Statute 6 (f) defined the Assembly of Study Group Chairs as consisting of "the chair or designated representative of each Study Group and the Secretary General." Therefore, according to the Statutes only one representative per Study Group should be present at the Assembly. It was noted, however, that Statute 6 (f) had not been observed strictly, since the Chair of the EB Committee for Study Groups and the Executive Assistant (now Executive Secretary) had attended all past Assemblies. 
11. A lengthy discussion followed, in which representatives expressed their particular needs and wishes, which ranged from having up to two representatives per Study Group, to having the number of attendees decided by the respective Study Groups. There was a general consensus that, resulting from the great diversity in the governance of ICTM Study Groups, Statute 6 (f) should be amended to allow for "up to two" representatives per Study Group. It was noted, however, that should any voting be required, only one vote per Study Group would be allowed. 
12. Yoder explained that according to ICTM Statute 12, a proposal to amend Statute 6 (f) should reach the Secretariat six months before the next General Assembly, to be held in 2025. If the next General Assembly would approve the changes, the new Statutes would not come into force until a ratification vote would be conducted and approved by a simple majority. Therefore, the 6th Assembly of Study Group Chairs would have to be conducted according to the existing Statutes. 

(c) Standardizing the structure of Study Group websites

13. Due to lack of time, it was agreed to table discussion of this topic, and to organise an online meeting in the near future to discuss it further. 

5. Brief oral reports by representatives of important issues about their Study Groups 

14. This point in the agenda was not discussed. It is listed here for completion’s sake.

6. Any other business

15. Lee asked whether the Secretariat-Study Group Salons, which had been held in October 2022 as an informal vehicle to discuss ongoing issues among the Study Group authorities and the Secretariat, should continue in 2023. The Assembly enthusiastically agreed to do so. 
16. Yoder volunteered to take notes of future Salons, and to make them available on the website.
17. Hood proposed that future Assemblies of Study Group Chairs should be held anually instead of biennially, and concurrently with World Conferences. 

7. Adjournment

16. Lee called for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Moved by Mæland, seconded by Silvestrini, carried unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 19:56. 

We hereby certify that this document comprises the Minutes of 5th Meeting of the Assembly of ICTM Study Group Chairs, held in Legon, Ghana, on 14 July 2023, and that its contents have been examined by us and that to the best of our knowledge and belief the content thereof is true, correct, and complete.