The 3rd Annual Meeting of AIRS will take place July 10–11, in St. John's Newfoundland in conjunction with the Phenomenon of Singing Symposium and Festival 500. As well, the Biennial Meeting of the International Council of Traditional Music  (ICTM) will overlap.

Abstracts (time for submission of papers has passed - there may be room for a poster)

Abstracts for presentations are to be submitted via the online Abstract Submission form, by April 19, 2011. Students may also submit the request for Travel support. The Committee will be providing feedback on abstract acceptances and student travel support requests by May 3.

Venue

The meeting will take place primarily at the Memorial University of Newfoundland. A block of rooms has been reserved for the nights of July 8–July 13. AIRS will contribute $300 toward the accommodation at the Extended Stay Deluxe St. John's hotel or the University residence. For those who wish to share a room at the hotel, AIRS will attempt to make arrangements. For more information or to book a room, please contact Deborah Annear at dannear@upei.ca.

Please see our Google Map of the conference venues for more information.

Agenda

The preliminary program  for the 3rd Annual meeting  is shown in the attached file below. In general, on the morning of July 10, the meeting will provide an overview from Team Leaders for each theme and group and will provide opportunity for discussion as a plenary body, as a theme, and sub-theme. AIRS wants to capitalize on the presence of so many members of the team who are in one place at this one time during the year. As at the Inaugural Annual Meeting in Prince Edward Island, and the 2nd Annual Meeting held on the opposite coast in Seattle last year, singing will enhance the meeting before, during, and after formal sessions. Meals and refreshments will be provided for July 9 and 10. Plan for a full day including dinner on your own on July 10, and dinner together on July 11 following the AIRS concert. The AIRS Steering Committee is making plans, and anyone interested in being involved in planning the conference program or concert is welcome. Please contact acohen@upei.ca.

Policy and Planning Meeting

On-Site Policy and Planning Meeting prior to the Annual Meeting—July 9, 6 pm. Location downtown near Extended Stay Deluxe and to be announced.

For members of the Policy and Planning Committee (Team Leaders and Co-Leaders for Research Sub-themes, Global, Ethics, Digital Library, Student, Partner, and Stakeholder group) there will be a meeting July 9, 6:00 pm the night before the AIRS Annual Meeting, in order to connect and re-connect, review Year 2's achievements of each group with respect to the milestones, review the goals of the meeting for the next day in light of the milestones to be achieved for Year 3, discuss policy and planning. Details to follow. The AIRS Advisory Board will join this meeting.

Other AIRS Meetings

1. Student/Young Professionals. Organized by  Rayna Friendly, all students and young professionals involved with singing research will meet for  a pizza dinner July 12, have some fun, and discuss the entire project from the student/ young professional perspective.
2. Theme 3.1 Singing and Cross-Cultural Understanding Songbook Project Workshop will take place all day July 9 for student awardees from participating countries. Additional workshop hours will take place across the remaining days of the meeting (to July 13).
3. Theme 1.3 AIRS Test Battery. The AIRS Theme 3.1 will hold  2 meetings  (July 10 from 5 - 6; and July 12th at lunch in conjunction with a Digital Library discussion) during the conference in order to review and finalize the AIRS test battery.
4. A Digital Library meeting will take place on July 12th in the morning.
5. Other sub-theme teams may also wish to arrange to meet formally or informally during the conference, as the time will be short on the AIRS General Meeting days (recalling that time was short for the first Annual meeting held over a 4-day period).
6. AIRS Concert July 11,  5 - 6. Volunteers from AIRS to perform and share singing in a variety of styles.
7. AIRS Plenary July 13, showcasing to the public AIRS research on Singing on Development, Education & Well-being.

There is much to look forward to then with the 3nd AIRS Annual Meeting in conjunction with three other meetings (Festival 500, Phenomenon of Singing and ICTM), two of which focus directly on singing.