Music Mark Conference 2025: Call for Content
17th March 2025
The call for content for Music Mark’s 2025 conference is now open!
The Music Mark Annual Conference is a key point in the UK Music Education calendar each year and we are delighted to launch the 2025 conference with details of the date, venue and theme.
Following the success of our 2024 conference and significant positive feedback about the venue, we have decided to return to the East Midlands Conference Centre in Nottingham on Monday 17th and Tuesday 18th November. The theme for the 2025 conference is ‘Ambition and Quality’ – one of the Arts Council England Investment Principles. The broadness of this theme should allow speakers to present on their particular topic, but with consideration of how the topic relates to being ambitious, ensuring quality, and how this might be identified and celebrated.
Ambition and Quality
Our theme each year helps us to programme with a fresh perspective whilst allowing opportunities to present on unique and significant themes that are important and relevant for now.
Ambition means a ‘strong desire for advancement’, something that music educators at all levels should have for themselves and their students – what advancements could our speakers talk about to inspire ambition?
Quality is a little more difficult to define, but this definition of quality in higher education could be most useful in the context of music education:
‘Quality in education refers to how well providers support students consistently to achieve positive outcomes in learning, personal development… while meeting the reasonable expectations of those students’
What could we explore in discussions, presentations, and keynotes that might reflect an ambition to be providers that support students in achieving positive outcomes?
Submit your proposal by 29th April
All submissions should demonstrate how they will support those working across music education, whether in their creative work and processes, the way in which they run their organisations, or a thread through both.
Sessions proposed should be bold and offer delegates meaningful learning that can be implemented in their work and support development.
Previous delegates identified the following features as creating the most rewarding and high-quality sessions. Please outline in your submission which of these features you will bring into your session, and how:
- Interactive and/or participatory sessions
- Tangible takeaways
- Hearing the voices of people who have been involved/engaged in the project or research, and can share their insights and feedback
- Learning from outside of music education; taking from other sectors
- A diverse range of speakers
Key logistics and details
- Sessions will be allocated 45 minutes, which should include time for audience Q&A.
- Music Mark can provide a maximum of 2x speakers with a day-only ticket for the day of their session; additional speakers and any other conference attendance will need to be purchased separately. This will be made available at a preferential rate when the programme has been confirmed.
- All sessions will have access to presentation equipment (with sound if required) and handheld speaker microphones. If you anticipate a more complex set up being required, please identify this in your submission.
The deadline for submitting your proposal is 6pm on Monday 29th April 2025. You can submit your proposal using the form below, or if you would prefer to submit a video or audio application please email us at info@musicmark.org.uk. We understand that you may not have all the details or a full idea of your session yet. Don’t worry, we are flexible to changes and will work with successful applicants in the build up to the event.
Our 2025 Annual Conference will take place on 17th – 18th November at the East Midlands Conference Centre, Nottingham.
