About Us / Action Ideals / Governance / Steering Committee / History
MDG 35: The 35th MayDay Group Colloquium “Theory and Philosophy” will be held June 9–12, 2024, and it will be hosted by the Department of Curriculum & Instruction, in collaboration with the School of Music, at the University of Victoria in beautiful Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Come join the fun! Proposals are due by January 7, 2024.
For more information, click here. For the call for proposals, click here.
What is the MayDay Group?
The MayDay Group functions as an international think tank of music educators that aims to identify, critique, and change taken-for-granted patterns of professional activity, polemical approaches to method and philosophy, and educational politics and public pressures that threaten effective practice and critical communication in music education. Ongoing debate about these matters has resulted in a more formal, two-fold purpose:
- to apply critical theory and critical thinking to the purposes and practices of music education, and
- to affirm the central importance of musical participation in human life and, thus, the value of music in the general education of all people.
The MayDay Group holds annual colloquia, based on the group’s Action Ideals, aimed at furthering critical thought in the music education profession.
MayDay Group members include musicians, music educators, social and cultural theorists from over 25 countries. There is no membership fee, and anyone can become a member just by registering.
The MayDay Group operated for many years on a voluntary, ad hoc basis. As the group has grown, a more formal governance structure has emerged.