Announcing Music Sustainability Forum 2026: “Music and AI—Creativity, Labor, and Power”
The Music Sustainability Initiative of Georgetown University, in partnership with the College of Arts & Sciences and the Law Center, is pleased to announce the Music Sustainability Forum 2026, taking place April 10–11, 2026, at Georgetown in Washington, D.C.
The 2026 event, “Music and AI: Creativity, Labor, and Power,” will convene musicians, scholars, policymakers, lawyers, and leaders from the music industry and cultural sectors to explore how artificial intelligence is transforming the conditions of musical work, authorship, and creativity.
Bridging research, creative practice, and policy, the Music Sustainability Summit will feature a mix of research presentations, panel discussions, artist talks, demonstrations, and interactive performances. Participants will examine the implications of AI for musicians’ livelihoods, cultural expression, and public policy, thinking through how music can remain sustainable, equitable, and vital in a rapidly changing technological landscape.
“We are all feeling this moment when the boundaries between human and machine are being redrawn,” said Benjamin J. Harbert, Professor of Music and Director of the Music Sustainability Initiative. “In order to understand this moment and chart the way forward, we need artists, scholars, legal experts, and policymakers into the same conversation, understanding music as art, critique, labor, property, culture, and as a shared human (or posthuman) practice.”
Proposals are now being accepted through January 15, 2026, in multiple formats, including short papers, panels or roundtables, performances, and demonstrations. Submissions are welcome from academics, artists, technologists, and advocates both within and outside traditional institutions.
Forum Themes include:
• Artistic and experimental uses of AI in composition, performance, and production
• Authorship, ownership, and labor in AI-generated or AI-assisted music
• Algorithmic bias, transparency, and the politics of training data
• Creative resistance, hacking, and cultural red-teaming
• Policy, legal, and ethical frameworks for sustainable musical ecosystems
The Music Sustainability Initiative is an interdisciplinary platform at Georgetown University dedicated to advancing research, dialogue, and collaboration on the future of music as a cultural, economic, and public good.
For submission details, please visit the Call for Proposals or contact musicsustainability@georgetown.edu.