Meeting Location

Butler University, Indianapolis, IN

Butler University is located in the heart of Indianapolis’ Butler-Tarkington neighborhood, minutes away from the Broad Ripple Cultural District and five miles north of downtown Indy. Butler’s campus of 5500 students provides the backdrop for the 2025 Symposium, hosted by Brian N. Weidner, Penny Dimmick, and Becky Marsh.

The Symposium will be hosted in three buildings that are a couple minutes walk from one another around the East Mall of the Sunset Campus. The Schrott Center for the Arts will serve as the main gathering hall for our plenaries and performances. Lilly Hall (home to the Jordan College of the Arts) and Dugan Hall (home to the Lacy School of Business) will house presentations and poster sessions.

Symposium Registration

Attendees are encouraged to register in advance at https://butler.formstack.com/forms/smte_registration by September 23, 2025, as late online and onsite registration rates will be higher. Onsite registration will be in the Schrott Center for the Arts lobby on Thursday afternoon and the Dugan Hall lobby on Friday morning. For those arriving outside of those times, contact Brian Weidner to make arrangements.

Registration includes access to all sessions, the opening reception on Thursday evening, morning coffee and lunch on Friday and Saturday, and shuttle service between the conference hotel (Drury Plaza Hotel-Indianapolis/Carmel) and Butler University. Registration will be opening the last week of June.

      $250   General registration
      $200   Graduate student registration
      $125   Day pass for Friday or Saturday for P-12 and community partners

For the first time, some sessions will be available for remote attendance as attendees to live presented sessions, including keynote sessions and two rooms of presentations which will be accessible via a limited access Zoom link. Sessions listed in Schrott Center for the Arts, Dugan Hall 118, and Dugan Hall 121 will be shared via a Zoom link for registered participants. Virtual participation registration will be $180.

On Saturday evening, an optional buffet will be held for interested attendees for $30, payable at time of registration.

Accommodations

Blocks of rooms at two hotels have been reserved for the Symposium.

Drury Plaza Hotel Indianapolis/Carmel under NAfME SMTE Symposium for $158 (+ tax)/night which includes hot breakfast and happy hour snacks and drinks.

Sonesta Select Hotel Indianapolis/Carmel under the Symposium on Music Teacher Education for $119 (+tax)/night for a single or $139 (+tax)/night for a double. Registration does not include breakfast, but a cafe is on site for purchase of breakfast.

Shuttle transportation will be provided from both of the hotels to the Butler University campus (see schedule below in “Getting Around”. For those providing their own transportation, hotel parking is free for guests. Paid parking on Butler’s campus is at the Sunset Ave. Garage, adjacent to Symposium facilities.

Getting around

While public transportation is available from Butler’s campus and in and around Indianapolis via IndyGo buses and rapid transit, ride share is probably the easiest way to and from the conference hotel. During the Symposium, shuttle buses will run from the conference hotels to Butler’s campus n the following schedule:
   Thursday, October 23
     10:30-6:30 PM (Departing from Drury Plaza and Sonesta Select)
     8:30-10:30 PM (Departing from Butler University)
     Friday, October 24
     6:45-9:45 AM (Departing from Drury Plaza and Sonesta Select)
     3:30-7:00 PM (Departing from Butler University)
     Saturday, October 25
     6:45-10:15 AM (Departing from Drury Plaza and Sonesta Select)
     4:00-8:00 PM (Departing from Butler University) 

For those who are driving to Indianapolis, visitor parking facilities are immediately behind the Schrott Center for the Arts in the Sunset Ave. Garage (4682 Sunset Ave. Indianapolis, IN). The parking garage is card only (no tap) and does not accept American Express.

Maps

University Campus Map

Conference Facilities

Thursday Registration, Opening Keynote, and plenaries will be held at the Schrott Center for the Arts on the corner of Sunset and 46th Street at the entrance to Butler University.

Friday and Saturday Presentations and ASPA meetings will take place in Dugan and Lilly Halls, immediately across one another on the East Mall. Additionally, poster sessions, lunches, and the opening reception will be in the Dugan Hall atrium.

Schedule

The Symposium will begin Thursday, October 23 with registration at 4:00 PM and will conclude final presentations at 5:00 PM on Saturday, October 25, with an optional banquet to follow into the evening. A more detailed schedule can be found at SMTE 2025 Schedule.

WIFI

WiFi access is available through the BU Guest/Open Access Network to all attendees. While this network should be able to support all standard WiFi needs, please communicate with Brian Weidner if your presentation will rely on a more robust connection. Butler University is not part of the eduroam network.

Special Accommodations

A private lactation room is available in the basement of Dugan Hall Room 018. 

Lilly Hall 112 will be available during most of the Symposium for those requiring a space for small group conversations or sensory control. Dugan Hall additionally has numerous nooks on the first and second floors that can be used on a first come, first serve basis, as well as outdoor seating behind Dugan Hall.

POSTERS

For those who are presenting a poster, posters should be no larger than 30×40 (either orientation). A board, easel, and pins will provided on site for all posters. For those interested in printing their posters on site to avoid travel challenges, Campus Impressions on Butler’s campus is available for printing. If you have submitted and paid in advance (you will need to call them at 317-940-6495 between 8 AM-4 PM to provide a credit card number as it is not collected through the submission) for your poster by October 16th at 4:00 PM EDT and noted in the comments that the poster is for “SMTE 2025”, you will be able to pick up your poster at registration on October 23rd. Alternately, you can visit their office in Holcomb 050 (ask at registration for directions) to pay in person and pick up the poster yourself.

Evening dining and entertainment Options

Clowes Hall Presenting Taylor Tomlinson on Oct 23-24 and Whose Line is It Anyway on Oct 25 (on Butler’s campus)

Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra Located downtown on Monument Circle, featuring the music of Korngold, Rachmaninoff, Tanzil, and Stravinsky. (6 miles)

Jazz Kitchen Indy’s premiere spot for all things jazz. (1 mile)

Bands of America Indianapolis Super Regional on October 24 and 25 at Lucas Oil Stadium. For those who are interested, Music for All is offering Symposium attendees a free VIP pass and experience if you register in advance. (6 miles)

Within walking/short ride share distance of Butler’s campus, you can find Chatham Tap (on the NE corner of the Sunset Ave. parking garage), Starbucks (in Atherton Union), Hoagies and Hops (42nd and Boulevard), Illinois Street Food Emporium (56th and Illinois), Byrne’s Pizza (56th and Illinois), and The Meridian (57th and Meridian).

Great food and evening options near Butler University in Broad Ripple (2 miles NE), College Ave. (1 mile E), and Massachusetts Ave (5 miles SE just outside downtown Indy). Downtown Carmel is located 5 miles north of our conference hotels. Castleton is located 5 miles east of our conference hotels.

Family Friendly Activities

Indianapolis Children’s Museum The largest children’s museum in the world and the premier destination for kids in Indy, the Children’s Museum is more than the typical children’s museum, including dinosaurs, a multistory Chiuly glass sculpture, STEM, live theater, human history, cultural exhibits, an outdoor sports area, and more. (3 miles)

Newfields Part art museum and part public gardens built on the Lilly estate, Newfields provides the opportunity to explore nature and art, including the free 100 acre Fairbanks Art and Nature Park with outdoor and interactive art exhibits set in a natural setting. Newfields also has a garden cafe and beer garden. (<1 mile)

Holliday Park A favorite park for exploring, Holliday Park has a nature center, a riverwalk along the White River, the “Ruins” (from the old St. Paul’s Church), and an expansive playground.

White River State Park Located just west of downtown Indianapolis, White River State Park is a cultural state park and serves as home for several museums including the Indianapolis Zoo, Indiana State Museum, Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, and the NCAA Hall of Champions. The Canal Walk provides a 3 mile walk and includes paddleboats with views of the Indy skyline.  (7 miles)

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum Located on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway grounds, this museum is dedicated to all things Indy 500. (7 miles)

Eagle Creek Park The largest urban park in the United States, Eagle Creek features dozens of miles of hiking trails, an ornithology center, high ropes adventure courses, and boat rentals. (9 miles)

Coming soon!

Submissions were accepted from January 15, 2025 to April 15, 2025 at 11:59 PM PST and are now closed. Acceptance letters were sent out on June 6, 2025 for all submissions received by April 15. See the Call for Submissions for more details.

June 24, 2025 Registration for the 2025 SMTE opened.

April 15, 2025 Submissions close for the 2025 SMTE at 11:59 PM PST.

January 15, 2025 Submissions open for the 2025 SMTE. The Call for Submissions can be found here. Submissions can be submitted at OpenConf.

December 11, 2024 Call for Submissions is released.

2023 Symposium on Music Teacher Education