... promotes performance, education, and research in improvised music, and illuminates connections between musical improvisation and creativity across fields.

Reflecting the melding of diverse cultures, ethnicities, disciplines, and ideas that shapes society at large, today’s musical world is increasingly characterized by creative expressions that transcend conventional style categories. Improvisation is a core aspect of this global confluence, and in recent years the phrase “improvised music” has emerged as a kind of an overarching label for much of this eclectic musical activity. Initially used to describe jazz and its offshoots, the phrase now encompasses a broad spectrum of formats—from computer music and multi-media collaborations to string quartets, bebop quintets and multiethnic fusion. Enabling spontaneous interactions between musicians from the most disparate backgrounds, the dissolution of boundaries between performers and listeners, and access to the transcendent dimensions of creative experience, improvisation is at the heart of a new musical paradigm that is uniquely reflective of contemporary life. Musical improvisation may also shed light on creativity in a wide variety of fields, as corporate executives, educators, athletes, medical professionals and other practitioners recognize an improvisatory core to success, progress, and fulfillment in their respective disciplines. ISIM brings together artists, listeners, teachers, industry professionals, and researchers, to further the growth and understanding of improvised music in our educational systems and society at large.

ISIM Benefit Event 2008

Webcast Link (coming soon)
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Hosted by Thomas Buckner and the ISIM New York City Professional Chapter
Featuring performers and speakers:
Oliver Lake, Thomas Buckner and Tom Hamilton, Dom Minasi, Ursel Schlicht and Robert Dick
TranceFormation: Andrea Wolper, Connie Crothers, Ken Filiano
NYC Professional Chapter Ensemble: Julianne Carney, Chris Chalfant, Adrian Coburn, James Ilgenfritz, Carol Purdy 
Panel: Ed Sarath, Earl Howard, Stephen Nachmanovitch
Environmental Dialogue by Pauline Oliveros, facilitated by Sarah Weaver

For more information contact: Sarah Weaver, ISIM Executive Director

ISIM Second Annual Conference 2007

Building Bridges: Improvisation as a Unifying Agent in Education, Arts, and Society

December 14-16, 2007 at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois USA  

Featured Artists and Presenters: Jane Ira Bloom and Mark Dresser, Mazen Kerbaj and Michael Zerang, Oliver Lake with the University of Michigan Creative Arts Orchestra, Bennett Reimer, Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians

Download Conference Program Here

Download Conference Biographies Here

ISIM Inaugural Conference 2006

Time, Sound, and Transcendence: Forging a New Vision for Improvised Music Pedagogy and Practice

December 1-3, 2006 at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan USA

Featured Artists and Presenters: Stephen Nachmanovitch, Pauline Oliveros,

Janne Murto, Steve Coleman

Download Conference Program Here