*CFP* "GEOGRAPHICALLY ISOLATED AND PERIPHERAL MUSIC SCENES", EDITED COLLECTION

Christina Ballico has had a few slots open up for contributions to an edited collection on geographically isolated and peripheral music scenes. She's particularly interested in bringing in diverse perspectives beyond the UK/North America and Australia/NZ dialogues she currently has, and particularly keen to provide this opportunity to female academics.

Despite advancements in technology facilitating an ease with which geographical distance can be overcome, coupled with a shift away from a reliance on core creative centres for a range of creative and business services, peripheral and geographically isolated contemporary music scenes continue to face a range of challenges which impact upon the ways in which they connect with new audiences and industry beyond their home locale. This ranges from needing to make higher investments of time and money, to having to overcome attitudinal and cultural barriers in order to be viewed as worthy of prominent attention. More broadly, geographic isolation also impacts upon the ways in which culture can flow into these scenes, particularly in the live music setting. At the same time, however, this distance can also result in a range of benefits to these scenes in relation to the ways in which they are structured and how they function locally. This includes cultivating a recognition of the need to support one another, a high degree of expertise and skills concentrated on a small number of workers and a tight network of spaces, as well as the development of a strong work ethic to make the most of opportunities when they arise.

With a particular focus on the below themes, proposals based on place-specific music scene and industry research are now being invited from scholars around the world:

• How do these scenes construct themselves in relation to larger, 'core' scenes? 
• What role do social networks and Communities of Practice play in the functioning of these scenes? 
• How do temporal and financial barriers impact being able to connect with audiences and industry beyond musicians’ home locale? 
• What role does migration and mobility play in ongoing career development? 
• How has social media broken down barriers to larger centres? 
• What role have governments played in overcoming the isolation faced by musicians and industry? 
• How do industry workers navigate their careers in these centres?

Proposals for chapters should consist of a title and abstract (of no more than 250 words), bio (of no more than 100 words), affiliation and email address and be sent to cballico@gmail.com by Wednesday August 21, 2019.

Full chapters will be due October 31st 2019 and be 6- 7,000 words in length.

Please note that only abstracts that closely fit the theme will be considered.