The Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Music (CISM) is an association of faculty and students at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) that promotes the study of music across academic disciplines. CISM begins with the position that music is an important and powerful cultural practice, which becomes fundamental in shaping the materialities and methods of social life. By sponsoring diverse projects that engage multiple fields of knowledge, CISM works to expand the boundaries of traditional music research by creating an environment for high-level study and discussion of music that is not restricted to specialists.