Forthcoming handbook features contributions by Sarah Mahler Kraaz, Travis Nygard

Sarah Mahler Kraaz of Northampton, Massachusetts, professor emerita of music, has co-edited a book, The Handbook of Music and Art, with Dr. Charlotte DeMille of the Courtauld Institute (London), for Bloomsbury Press. The book is currently in production with a scheduled publication date of April 2024.

“Rather than focusing on the shared language of art history and musicology, or representative scholarship on particular histories or genres, the book is constructed around extra-artistic considerations of activism and access,” the editors state in the preface. The book brings together representative examples of the latest interdisciplinary methods, ideas and practices relevant to art history and musicology in a prioritized volume for the first time.

Further, “Scholarship on the arts is not a self-referential bubble; rather, it actively seeks diversity, equity, inclusivity and critique. By striving to understand creativity, we are well-placed to mediate it among cultures, differing perspectives and across educational divides.”

The handbook contains essays by a diverse and inclusive collection of scholars and artists, including practitioners at different stages of their professional careers. It challenges disciplinary thinking by highlighting diverse methodologies and benchmark critical approaches and practices.

Ripon College Professor of Art Travis Nygard contributed the chapter “Racist and Ethnic Stereotypes in the Arts.” The volume also includes interviews with internationally known artists William Kentridge and Peter Sellars.

In addition to co-editing the book and writing some of the section introductions, Kraaz also contributed the chapter “Access and Engagement: Classical Music in the Pandemic and Beyond.”

Kraaz previously wrote a chapter on music in the Spanish-American War in Music and War in the United States, a volume she edited for Routledge (2019).

(Photo: Sarah Mahler Kraaz, left, and Travis Nygard)