General Information

This General Information page discusses the membership categories, application process, funding opportunities, and resources available within the Analysis, Creation, and Teaching of Orchestration (ACTOR) Project.

There are two membership categories: Collaborator (or Regular Member) and Student Member. To apply for membership, interested individuals should follow the specific guidelines provided for either Collaborator Membership or Student Membership applications. ACTOR does not charge a membership fee from collaborators or student members.

ACTOR offers funding opportunities for both collaborator and student members to support their projects and initiatives. The project also has internal pages, a data repository, and accepts contributions to its newsletter. Members can submit their publications for consideration and access the internal directory to connect with other professionals.

ACTOR Membership Categories

Collaborator (or Regular Member)

This category includes faculty members, postdoctoral* researchers, private sector parties, and artists from partner and non-partner institutions. Only collaborators who are faculty members can sponsor student membership applications (see sponsorship process below).

Collaborators from non-partner institutions may not be eligible for certain funding opportunities due to restrictions imposed by SSHRC**.

Collaborators from partner institutions are required to assist the ACTOR Institution Representative (IR) in the submission of the annual activity report and contribution statement. They must do so by providing the IR with their ACTOR-related information, normally requested around February. For a full list of ACTOR Institution Representatives see – ACTOR IRs

Student Member

This category includes undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral* students working under the supervision of, or sponsored by, an ACTOR collaborator. These members are able to apply for funding as long as they fulfill the eligibility criteria noted for each funding opportunity. Student Members from non-partner institutions may also be referred to as Independent Student Members.

N.B. * Postdoctoral researchers may apply as collaborators or as student members, depending on their foreseen involvement in the project.

** According to SSHRC policies, ACTOR can only transfer funds to ACTOR co-applicants (i.e., individuals involved in the original grant proposal), who are located at partner institutions. (more info on receiving funds here)

How to apply for membership

• To apply as a Collaborator, please submit the following to the Project Director (Dr. Stephen McAdams) and the Project Coordinator (André Martins de Oliveira):

1. A letter of intent including:

   • Why you want to join ACTOR

   • With whom you would be interested in collaborating actively within the ACTOR membership

   • Particular projects with which you could see yourself being involved

   • What your own work could bring to the analysis, creation, and teaching of orchestration.

2. Full curriculum vitae

• Applications will be considered in a three-stage process, going through the approval of the Project Director, the Executive Committee, and SSHRC.

• Only after the official approval by SSHRC is the candidate accepted as a collaborator of the project.

• Applications are accepted continuously, there is no deadline to apply. The processing time is between two and four weeks.

• To apply for student membership:

1. Please ask the ACTOR collaborator sponsoring you to submit the Student Sponsorship Form via the website.

   • Please note that regular members from non-partner institutions who are faculty members may also sponsor student membership applications.

2. Once step 1 is complete, students will receive an email requesting them to submit an application form including a short written explanation as to why they want to be part of ACTOR and how their research interests fit with the mandate of ACTOR in terms of timbre and/or orchestration. This will be reviewed by the Project Coordinator and the Project Director.

• Applications are accepted continuously, there is no deadline to apply. The processing time is between one and two weeks.

• When students graduate, they may apply to become collaborators (see Collaborator membership above). If, however, they decide to pursue another degree (undergraduate, graduate, or postdoctoral), they may remain as student members, even if there is a short gap between both programs.

Funding opportunities for collaborators and student members:

• Research-Creation Funding - No longer available

  • The purpose of ACTOR Research-Creation Project Funding is to encourage innovative research-creation projects by members of the ACTOR project that could lead to external funding opportunities, joint publication, musical compositions/premieres/recordings, new modules for the TOR, and/or other public presentations of ACTOR research. Creative projects with an interdisciplinary focus, relevant to the ACTOR project’s mandate, will be given priority.

• Strategic Project Funding - No longer available

  • The purpose of ACTOR Strategic Project Funding is to encourage innovative research and/or pilot projects by members of the ACTOR project, for research in line with ACTOR's mandate, that could lead to external funding opportunities, joint publications, musical compositions/premieres/recordings, new modules for the TOR, and/or other public presentations of ACTOR research. Projects with an interdisciplinary focus, relevant to the mandate, will be given priority.

• Satellite Meeting Funding - No longer available

  • The purpose of ACTOR Satellite Meeting Funding is to stimulate visibility of ACTOR at international conferences and stimulate interest in the project.

• Student Exchange - No longer available

  • Student members and postdoctoral collaborators of ACTOR are eligible to apply for funding for an exchange program between ACTOR partner institutions to conduct research within the ACTOR project’s mandate,.

• Student Presentations

  • Student members of ACTOR are eligible to apply for funding for an opportunity to present an ACTOR-related project at the yearly ACTOR Workshop.

• Collaborative Student Project Grant - No longer available

  • The purpose of the ACTOR Collaborative Student Project Grant is to support research in line with ACTOR’s mission to bring the musical use of timbre to the forefront of scholarship, practice, and public awareness as well as to provide students with funding for the summer period and encourage interinstitutional collaboration among students in the ACTOR partnership.

The ACTOR Internal pages have been discontinued. All sensitive information therein has been migrated to the ACTOR Data Repository.

The ACTOR Data Repository is housed on a dedicated Microsoft Sharepoint account. Managed by ACTOR staff, it is a place for long-term storage meant to host materials from ACTOR committees, projects, and workgroups. The platform is accessible to all ACTOR members (access is granted once the membership application is processed). As default, members have view permission only. Edit permission can be temporarily assigned on a case-by-case basis upon request.

Note that this repository is a separate environment from the Internal Pages. For more details or access problems contact Andre Oliveira (actor-project.music[at]mcgill.ca).

All ACTOR members are welcome to submit updates about their ACTOR-related research to our monthly newsletter. This can be done through the Newsletter Form via the ACTOR website. You may include information about projects, experiments, publications, presentations, upcoming events, awards, honors, and any other content you find pertinent. Along with text, it is possible to submit photos, as well as pdf and media files (audio, video). Please note that the editorial team might make small modifications to adapt your content to the newsletter format.

The ACTOR project organizes three peer-reviewed publication platforms to which you can contribute. This might be a great opportunity to have your research published and to showcase your work. Even though these platforms are not a journal, they can still count on your resume as ‘popularization’ publications. For more information, see the TOR Submission Guidelines, or contact actor-project.music@mcgill.ca. 

Slack is an online platform used by businesses and organizations for communication. ACTOR has recently adopted this platform for communication among its members; it is proving to be especially useful for committees and working groups to help centralize discussion and share documents. It can be accessed via desktop application, apps on iOS and Android, or via web browser. If you are an ACTOR member who has not yet joined Slack and would like to, send a request to actor-news.music@mcgill.ca.

The ACTOR Internal Directory is a database created to boost connection and networking potential within the ACTOR community. It contains key information about the research, projects and expertise of members and it has been useful for those seeking collaborations and for student members seeking exchange opportunities. If you are an ACTOR member and wish to be included in this directory or to update an existing record, please do so by filling out your information via the ACTOR Internal Directory Form (it should take about 5-7 minutes).

For access to the internal directory, please visit the link above or contact Andre Oliveira (actor-project.music[at]mcgill.ca).