String Band Summit

2026 String Band Summit

April 10 - 12, 2026

Call For Participation   

 

The String Band Summit (SBS) gathers artists, teachers, scholars, and other music industry stakeholders engaged in string band music across the Americas to explore string band traditions, histories, practices, instruments, and pedagogy, seeking to foster collaboration and understanding. The 5th annual SBS will be hosted by the Institute for Appalachian Music and Culture in the Department of Appalachian Studies at East Tennessee State University April 9-12, 2026. The gathering will not have a regional theme, but will focus on bringing together people who perform, teach, study, and present string band music around, over, and through boundaries of genre, vocation, and geography.  The organizers seek to support professional, intellectual, and artistic development, deepen connections between institutions of higher education where string band musics are taught and studied, and foster collaboration and understanding between researchers and string band artists, allowing participants to interact and collaborate with their peers who work in different places, traditions, and disciplines.    

We invite participation from artists, performers, practitioners, luthiers, songwriters, and event promoters as well as from scholars and teachers of ethnomusicology, musicology, music education, music theory, dance, art history, history, cultural studies, political science, anthropology, sociology, area studies, media studies, folklore, performance studies, and other relevant disciplines. Participation by graduate and undergraduate students is encouraged.
     
The primary language of the Summit will be English;  please contact us if language support is needed and we will provide it as we are able.  

Here is information on lodging and registration, with a current preliminary schedule - more information on travel and parking to come: 

Schedule

Lodging Information

  

Click one of the types of proposals below to apply:

Band / Artist Application

Proposals are due by Nov. 3, 2025, The committee plans to respond to all submissions by Nov. 21, 2025.

If you have an idea for an event that does not fit the above categories, (or have other questions)
contact Tashi Litch or Lee Bidgood.