The Center for Musical Humanities is dedicated to advancing the interests of music and the humanities across the whole of UCLA, engaging its faculty, students, and surrounding communities in a series of events that will bring together scholarship, performance, and outreach.

The mission of the center is to foster the study of music within an interdisciplinary context by bringing together scholars and students in a variety of disciplines from around the nation and world to collaborate with scholars and students at UCLA and its associated communities, and to create an effective and vibrant face for the Herb Alpert School of Music by fostering public musical events inspired by its scholarly ventures, featuring faculty and students from across the school.

Conceived along the lines of other centers on campus—that is, dedicated to a constellation of interests shared across disciplines, and serving the needs of faculty, students, and larger community—the Center for Musical Humanities will provide support for a number of different kinds of events, including conferences, concerts informed by scholarship and other arts, or other collaborative ventures that include both scholarly and musical components. The Center is administered and funded by the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, but works closely with the Division of Humanities and other academic units on Campus; faculty on its Advisory Board are drawn from all three Arts schools, Humanities, and Social Sciences.

Our programs are made possible by the Joyce S. and Robert U. Nelson Fund. Robert Uriel Nelson was a revered musicologist and music professor at UCLA, who, together with his wife, established a generous endowment for the university to make programs like this possible.

The UCLA Center for Musical Humanities is now accepting proposals for events that combine scholarship and musical performance, to take place as live events during the academic year 2025-2026

The mission of the Center is to support interdisciplinary study of music by bringing together scholars and performers from the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music with faculty and students from the humanities and other related disciplines, both at UCLA and beyond. Events supported by the Center for Musical Humanities must include a collaborative component between scholarship and live musical performance. Proposals that include plans for student involvement, as scholars or performers, are especially encouraged.

Selected proposed events will be part of the Center’s official programming for the year, and the Center will assist in coordinating the program and in covering related expenses (including hotel, travel, venue, and catering), up to $5000 per event, which may be combined with additional funds from other sources. Further information about budgeting will be provided for approved proposals.

Proposals should include a 2-page description of the event and a proposed budget, including known or probable sources for funding. The description should include:

• A summary of the event, including its various components, which explains how performance and scholarship will be included and coordinated;
• Planned paper topics and/or a call for papers, with brief biographies of specific speakers and performers who will be invited to participate;
• Intended venues and/or audiences for the program;
• Plans for involving UCLA faculty and students.

NB: If you would like help in developing your proposal, especially regarding how your event might combine performance and scholarship, and how it might involve students and faculty from across UCLA, we invite you to contact either the Director or Program Director (knapp@humnet.ucla.edu, holley@ucla.edu).

To be considered, proposals must be sponsored or co-sponsored by at least one UCLA faculty member.

Please send your proposals by May 9, 2025 to Holley Replogle-Wong, Program Director, at holley@ucla.edu. The Center’s advisory board will convene during Spring Quarter to evaluate proposals.