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[DRAFT] STRATEGIC PLAN FOR THE
MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA
(as published in Newsletter No. 49, August 1998)

The Long Range Planning Committee met twice since the last AGM, in November 1997, and in February 1998. The first meeting consisted of a free-ranging discussion of ideas and issues. In the second meeting the committee examined the issues identified in the first meeting and developed them into a draft strategic plan as follows:

Mission Statement

The Musicological Society of Australia exists to foster greater understanding and valuing of music, musical thinking and musical life by:

• providing an Australian forum for communication about music;
• encouraging excellence in music research and research training;
• facilitating the dissemination of the outcomes of music research.

Goals

To foster scholarly connections with other fields, by:

• establishing a federation of humanities/social sciences societies and a shared national permanent secretariat;
• establishing more effective relationships with specialised music organisations;
• web hosting and linking through a central electronic clearing house with WWW server/site, for the purpose of the newsletter, sharing conference information and activities, and for affiliated membership with other organisations;
• fostering interactive relationships and projects between practitioners and researchers.

To broaden the publishing program of the Society, by:

• producing CDs, videos, databases, bibliographies, museum catalogues, reference tools;
• developing the web site as an electronic clearing house;
• further developing the newsletter on the web site; providing an interactive mechanism on the web site;
• providing electronic communication for members; linking the web site to international organisations;
• developing electronic news groups;
• having membership subscription on-line.

To use the media to publicise the activities of the Society, and tailor our activities to attract media interest, by:

• using the media to create a broader understanding of and interest in music research, in order to better articulate what we do to a wider audience;
• reflecting on our practices so we can communicate better our research methods and approaches;
• structuring our conferences in such a way so as to attract media interest.

To broaden the employment opportunities for music researchers, by:

• articulating more clearly the benefits of music research training and its application to potential employers and careers; identifying potential employers and then contacting them;
• continually encouraging members to be proactive;
• identifying research projects in various organisations for students to work on as part of their training;
• identifying research projects in various organisations for students to work on as part of their training;
• actively seeking opportunities and funding for the cataloguing of music collections (sheet music, audio and video recordings, musical instruments, etc.)
• publishing in the newsletter information about careers for music researchers (opportunities that may not otherwise have been thought of);
• articulating to public policy makers the value of music research and music research training.

To emphasise the relevance of music research to performance, by:

• holding joint conferences with performers, composers, music educators, instrument makers and other music practitioners;
• holding weekend workshops with members of other societies on particular themes or problems;
• exploring other means of communication outside the conference/workshop arena, eg through the Internet.

To pursue ways to increase membership of and revenue for the Society, by:

• establishing affiliated or joint membership;
• establishing patron membership;
• establishing associate membership (eg librarians);
• updating the brochure and distributing it more widely;
• producing posters and postcards;
• rethinking membership categories, eg to provide for independent scholars and foreign members.

To promote better understanding of music research within the academy by:

• drafting a discussion paper on the nature of music research and its relationship to performance and composition for posting on the web site and feedback from the membership;
• based on the discussion paper and membership feedback, prepare a position paper for submission to the Australian Research Council;
• raising the profile of music research within the Academy of the Humanities through approaches to Fellows.

To maximise the impact of the journal, by:

• changing the size to B5;
• adding a column of Book Notices for books not reviewed but which should be mentioned;
• encouraging the submission of review essays;
• distinguishing reviews from articles by using double columns; transferring registers of theses (honours and post-graduate) to the web site;
• putting abstracts of journal articles on the web site;
• establishing a relationship with a publishing company, which would be responsible for distribution and marketing;
• retaining the name of the journal as it is.

To project a new and modern image of the Society, by:

• adopting a name which better reflects its role as an umbrella organisation for all kinds of music research;
• breaking down the barriers between different aspects of music research.

Suggested new name: Australian Society for Music Research.

Stephen Wild   

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