Pop Conference 2026 announces call for proposals
Pop Conference 2026 (PopCon) has announced its call for proposals under the theme of “Mayhem: Pop Music and Writing in Perilous Times.” The annual conference features the world’s leading scholars, journalists, writers, and musicians for a long weekend of papers, roundtables, discussions, and performances exploring popular music.
The USC Thornton School of Music will once again host PopCon, with events scheduled to take place March 12–14, 2026, on USC’s University Park campus.
PopCon invites proposals that examine “the ways music and writing have always led us back from, or toward, precariousness and the edge—the very brink of despair, meaning, performance conventions, community, change.” In addition to traditional papers and roundtables, PopCon welcomes experimental submission formats such as hybrid lecture-performances, multimedia storytelling and interdisciplinary collaborations.
The proposal submission deadline is Wednesday, October 22, 2025. Visit the PopCon 2026 website for full submission guidelines.
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Photo courtesy of the USC Thornton School of Music.