Pop Conference 2024 Kicks Off This Week With George Clinton, Wendy & Lisa Keynote Sessions

On Thursday (Mar. 7), Pop Conference 2024 will kick off three days of programming that includes a keynote session with funk legend George Clinton, as well as with musical duo and Prince & the Revolution members Wendy & Lisa.

This year’s PopCon, titled “Legacy! Legacy! Music Collections and Archives,” will be held Mar. 7-9 on the USC University Park campus. For the first time in the annual summit’s 22-year history, Pop Conference will be hosted by the USC Thornton School of Music, in collaboration with the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

“For 22 years the Pop Conference has been an incredible gathering of pop music writers, journalists, critics, scholars and musicians,” says dean of the USC Thornton School of Music Jason King, who serves as the USC conference producer and keynote curator for PopCon. “It’s an unparalleled opportunity to engage in sustained, thoughtful discussion on pop music over the course of a weekend.

“This year’s theme—all about music legacies, archives and collections—is a topical one, given that we’re living in a moment where we are witnessing polarizing cultural debates around the value of history, memory and the past,” King continues. “I’m so happy to bring this conference to USC and Los Angeles.” 

The first day of PopCon will be highlighted by A Little Light Under the Sun: The Unstoppable Funky Genius and Cosmic Legacy of George Clinton, in which the icon will discuss “history, legacy and impact in relationship to his personal archives and history,” per programming. On Friday night (Mar. 8), Wendy & Lisa will be in conversation with Timothy Anne Burnside, museum curatorial specialist at the Smithsonian National African American Museum of History and Culture.

In addition, a roundtable discussion “A Seat at the (Mother)Ship: The Reclamation of Women’s Stories in Parliament-Funkadelic” will center and recognize the women who became fundamental in building the legacy of P-Funk. PopCon programming will be rounded out by more panels and discussions, mentorship sessions and performances.

Pop Conference 2024 is free and open to the public, with advance registration here.