FUNK MUSIC IN POPULAR CULTURE CONFERENCE—APRIL 25 & 26, 2025
CALL FOR PAPERS AND PRESENTATIONS
Funk Music in Popular Culture Conference
Friday, April 25 & Saturday, April 26, 2025
Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, USA

Indie Lens Pop-Up, WBGU-PBS, the Department of Popular Culture and the School of Culture and Critical Studies at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio are proud to announce the Funk Music in Popular Culture Conference to be held on Friday, April 25 and Saturday, April 26, 2025. The Funk Music in Popular Culture Conference will serve as a celebration and screening of the Independent Lens film We Want the Funk. This conference will also be a space for academics, graduate students, musicians, music industry professionals, music/sound recording retailers, fans and the public to engage in dialogue about topics related to funk music and its cultural influence in popular music, popular culture and beyond. The scope of the Funk Music in Popular Culture Conference is deliberately broad, with the intention of highlighting the interdisciplinary nature and the many different avenues of research and creativity related to funk music in popular culture.

Possible topics might include but are not limited to:
-Funk Music in Popular Music and Popular Culture
-Funk Music History, History of Funk Musicians and Funk Musical Groups
-Funk Music Fans and Funk Podcasts
-Ohio’s Connection to Funk Music (Dayton, Cincinnati, Toledo, Cleveland, Columbus based groups, fans, and record labels)
-Michigan’s Connection to Funk Music (Detroit-based funk groups, fans, and record labels)
-Funk Music in Rap/Hip-Hop, Heavy Metal, Punk, Blues, Jazz, Folk, Country, etc…
-International Funk Music Groups
-Funk Music in Film and Television
-Funk Music in Comics, Cartoons, Art and Album Art
-Funk Music Fashion
-Funk Music and Gender, Race, and Class
We welcome individual proposals or pre-formed panels that address the themes above. As the conference aims to provide a multitude of perspectives, academic presentations and those from outside the academy are welcome. Individual presentation proposals—papers, music demonstrations or artistic displays—should include a 300-word abstract. Panel or roundtable presentation proposals should include a 300-word abstract for each presenter and a 500-word abstract for the panel or roundtable.

Submit proposals as a Microsoft Word document to funkmusic@bgsu.edu with “Funk Music in Popular Culture” in the Subject line and include the following information for each presenter:

-Author’s name & Title
-Institutional Affiliation (if applicable)
-Email address
-Presentation Title
-Abstract

Deadline for Submissions is March 8, 2025. Proposal status notifications will be sent no later than March 9, 2025. Registration for the conference is free. Contact Dr. Matthew Donahue or Dr. Angela Nelson at funkmusic@bgsu.edu if you have questions, check www.bgsu.edu/funkmusic for more details.