Yale Institute of Sacred Music

The upcoming event season for the ISM's Religion, Ecology and Expressive Culture Initiative (REEC) includes performances, art shows, symposia, workshops and film screenings.

View the season schedule at the link: https://ism.yale.edu/initiatives/the-religion-ecology-and-expressive-culture-initiative/religion-ecology-and-expressive

Note that some event entries are brief at this time, but will be updated as we receive full information.

Yale Divinity School Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology

We're delighted to share that ISM and Yale Divinity School alumna Judith Dupré M.Div. ’11 is featured in the Yale podcast series "Women Living the Questions", which spotlights women graduates whose lives and work continue to inspire. A recipient of the Dominique de Menil Scholarship while at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, Judith reflects on her time at YDS, discerning a vocation beyond the church, and her long creative journey from painter to architect to bestselling writer and architectural historian.

The conversation is led by Ruby Tugade, the creator and host of “Women Living the Questions”, and a graduate of the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale.

Listen to her thoughtful and beautifully produced conversation here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/women-living-the-questions/id1875726100?i=1000779496107

From July 28-29, ISM faculty, alums, and students gathered at Belmont University in Nashville, TN, for a conference on contemporary praise and worship music entitled “Interdisciplinaryity, Industrialization, and Imagination.” The conference was organized by Adam Perez M.A.R. '16 (liturgical studies) with support from Blenda Im, assistant professor of sacred music at the ISM and Yale Divinity School. Melanie Ross, associate professor of liturgical studies at the ISM and Yale Divinity School delivered a keynote address. Current ISM students Ellie Grace Lashier M.A.R. '27 (liturgical studies) and Peter Miles M.Div. '27 also presented papers.

Learn more about graduate study in liturgical studies at the ISM and Yale Divinity School: https://ism.yale.edu/graduate-study/admission-graduate-study

Photo taken at the Museum of Christian and Gospel Music, Nashville, TN. From left to right: Blenda Im, Melanie Ross, Adam Perez, Peter Miles, Ellie Grace Lashier.

The ISM is delighted to welcome back one of our continuing long-term fellows, Lav Kanoi, who is interested in the social-environmental dimensions of cities and urban development. As a Postdoctoral Associate and Lecturer (Anthropology) working on the Religion, Ecology, and Expressive Culture Initiative at the ISM, Dr. Kanoi is working on a monograph based on this research, and also developing new research on sacred water in the modern city.

Applications are now open for the ISM's 27-28 cohort of long-term fellows: https://ism.yale.edu/fellowships

The ISM’s unique Religion, Ecology and Expressive Culture (REEC) Initiative continued to thrive in its third year of programming. The initiative seeks to support and amplify the work of scholars, artists, and practitioners who are working in diverse media and genres at the intersections of three fields: religion, the environment, and the arts, all broadly construed.

Read here a news feature on our website summarizing the past year's projects: https://ism.yale.edu/posts/2026-07-29-reflections-on-the-2025-2026-season-for-the-isms-religion-ecology-and-expressive

Applications for consideration for REEC's 2027-2028 cycle of programming will open on September 1, 2026! Stay tuned for an application link then.

Image 1: REEC Initiative logo
Image 2: Harold Shapiro
Image 3: Sam Denler
Image 4: Lav Kanoi

Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology
Yale Divinity School

We are pleased to announce the 2026-2027 Great Organ Music at Yale series. All GOMY concerts are free and open to the public.

9/27: Francesco Cera (Marquand Chapel)
10/18: James O’Donnell (Woolsey Hall)
11/22: Wolfgang Zerer (Woolsey Hall)
1/31: Alan Morrison (Woolsey Hall)
3/22: Martin Jean (Woolsey Hall)

Further details: https://ism.yale.edu/great-organ-music-at-yale

Yale School of Music New Haven AGO

Photo: Harold Shapiro

The ISM is delighted to welcome back one of our continuing long-term fellows, Elliot K. Canfield-Dafilou, who studies relationships between architectural acoustics and listeners, musicians, and composers. His work is multidisciplinary and frequently combines scientific and creative endeavors. At the ISM, he continues the exploration of how the acoustics of sacred spaces affect music and auditory perception.

Applications are now open for the ISM's 27-28 cohort of long-term fellows: https://ism.yale.edu/fellowships

Sponsored by the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, the Yale Journal of Music & Religion (YJMR) is a peer-reviewed, open access journal publishing scholarship on sacred music in its ritual, artistic, and cultural contexts across a range of methodologies.

View all issues here: https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/yjmr

The ISM is delighted to welcome back one of our continuing long-term fellows, Clayton Goodgame, who is developing a new project in the borderlands of Lebanon, Palestine/Israel, and Syria. This project examines the relationship that Druze, Muslim, and Christian communities maintain with the mountain landscapes in which they have lived for centuries.

Applications are now open for the ISM's 27-28 cohort of long-term fellows: https://ism.yale.edu/fellowships

The ISM community bids a very fond farewell to Anesu Nyamupingidza, our inaugural and past two-season art exhibitions postgraduate associate, who maintained a collaborative position with our institute and the Yale Peabody Museum. Anesu now heads to a graduate degree program in conservation at University of Durham, England.

While at the ISM, Anesu worked on several exhibitions that focused on religion and the arts, while also exploring topics such as object selection, narrative development, community engagement, and exhibition installations at the Yale Peabody Museum.

Looking back on the past two years filled with new faces, great exhibitions, and wonderful conversations, Anesu has found that her position as a postgraduate associate has been a guiding experience, sparking an unexpected passion for conservation through caring for the ISM’s art collection and working with objects at the Peabody.

Thank you for your efforts and collegiality these past two years at the ISM, Anesu. You will be missed and we wish you all the success in your future efforts!