PASEA is honored to have colleagues from Indigenous Music and Dance and Applied Ethnomusicology come together for an ICTMD Joint Symposium to be held in Chiang Mai, Thailand in July 2026

(Dates and venue will be decided in the coming months). 

Stay tuned to this page as well as our social media platforms for more updates:

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Email: ictmd2026@gmail.com

In 2010, the then ICTM saw its first joint symposium take place in Hanoi, Vietnam. Applied Ethnomusicology and Music and Minorities joined forces marking the first time in the history of ICTM that study groups had met at the same time in the same place. The benefits are clear and joint symposiums are now a significant part of spreading ideas, theoretical concepts and approaches. This is especially significant when ICTMD study groups with thematic and regional focus collaborate. Geographically oriented study groups may expand their regional focus to include papers, roundtables and panels outside their region that emphasize thematic approaches and case studies not usually encountered in their symposium. 

This joint symposium will also support the relatively new study group Indigenous Music and Dance promote interest in its membership. By working with PASEA and Applied Ethnomusicology it is hoped that IMD more ICTMD members will get involved with this important study group.

Our Joint Symposium will be held in Chiang Mai, Thailand. It is the 2nd largest city in the country with a population of about 1.2 million in the city proper. Historically, the city's location on the Ping River made it the centre of many important trading routes. Today, it is one of the top tourist desitination for Thailand and has made Trip Advisor's Top 25 destinations in the world list.

The following is a brief description of the three participating study groups:

"The ICTMD Performing Arts of Southeast Asia Study Group is dedicated to the study and research on music, dance and theatre as found throughout Southeast Asia, and also includes Southeast Asian performing arts elsewhere around the world.  The Study Group intends to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas, new approaches and current research among established as well as young ICTMD scholars around the world. The Study Group also strives to increase communications and interaction among scholars working in Southeast Asian performing arts, and to promote future research initiatives in areas of Southeast Asia where there has been little or no research."

"The ICTMD Study Group on Indigenous Music and Dance (IMD) aims to deepen understanding and awareness of music and dance within local and indigenous cultures around the world. Our meetings and publications welcome participants from a wide variety of backgrounds, including traditional performers and educators. We are committed to ethical research collaborations that benefit local and indigenous communities and support local and indigenous performers and educators to maintain their music-and-dance knowledge and practices." 

"APPLIED ETHNOMUSICOLOGY is the approach guided by principles of social responsibility, which extends the usual academic goal of broadening and deepening knowledge and understanding toward solving concrete problems and toward working both inside and beyond typical academic contexts. The ICTMD STUDY GROUP ON APPLIED ETHNOMUSICOLOGY advocates the use of ethnomusicological knowledge in influencing social interaction and course of cultural change. It serves as a forum for continuous cooperation through scholarly meetings, projects, publications and correspondence."