Dr Christina Ballico

Biography

Hailing from Perth, Western Australia, I research and teach in the field of popular music studies. I am the editor of Geographically Isolated and Peripheral Music Scenes: Global insights and perspectives (Palgrave, 2021), and the co-editor of Music Cities: Evaluating a global cultural policy concept (Palgrave, 2020). I am a Collaborator with the global research NGO Center for Music Ecosystems, an Editorial Board Member for the Anthem Impact in Music Business, Technology and Culture series, and Member-at-Large of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM). I have undertaken a range of research consultancies for music advocacy bodies and state government arts' departments in my native Australia and was the Research Fellow (2016 - 2019) on the Australian Research Council Linkage Project, Making Music Work: Sustainable portfolio careers for Australian musicians (LP 150100497).

My research is primarily focused on examining the structure and function of place-based music industries and scenes, including their associated career, business, and infrastructure development, and music-related urban governance. In turn, it considers the role of music in creative and cultural cities paradigms - including the music cities concept and the emergent music ecosystems framework - and places a strong focus on the influences of locality, particularly geographical isolation and peripherality, on the ways in which music industries and scenes function.

I am currently writing a manuscript for the Bloomsbury 33 1/3 Oceania series on The Triffids' breathtaking 1986 album Born Sandy Devotional, while continuing to expand on my research agenda in music's relationship to place. This includes upcoming research and publishing projects exploring the capacity for arts and cultural engagement within chronourbanist frameworks, and the place-specific impacts of creative and cultural cities frameworks and associated initiatives.

External Memberships

Editorial Board Member, Anthem Impact in Music Business, Technology and Culture series: 2024 - Present

Member-at-Large, International Association for the Study of Popular Music: 2023 - Present

Collaborator, Center for Music Ecosystems: 2021 - Present

Editorial Board Member, IASPM Journal: 2019 - 2023