International Centre 4 Prince Studies

Manchester Metropolitan University,

Manchester, UK

Founding Member

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Kirsty Fairclough is the Interim Deputy Head of the School of Digital Arts (SODA), a Professor in Screen Studies; Research and Knowledge Exchange Lead; and Research Degrees Coordinator at MMU. An academic with over 20 years research, teaching and leadership experience, she has an interdisciplinary research profile encompassing screen studies, celebrity studies, the audio visual mediation of popular music and gender representation in popular culture. Along with Mike Alleyne she is editor of the book Prince and Popular Music.

She is also Chair of Manchester Jazz Festival, a Culture Forum North Steering Group member and a Digital City Festival Advisory Board member.

Music Historian

Minneapolis, MN

Founding Member

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Kristen Zschomler is a Minneapolis-based historian who researches and writes about places associated with Prince, The Minneapolis Sound, and music history in the Twin Cities. Kristen's work saw two Prince places recognized as historically significant in the National Register of Historic Places, preserving his legacy. Kristen is also the co-owner of SoundAround Music Tours, an innovative self-guided, GPS-led, audio tour app that tells the stories of Minneapolis’s music scene and artists including Prince. A lifelong ballet student, her current research focuses on Prince and his inspiration from and incorporation of ballet into his dance aesthetic.

University of Minnesota

Minneapolis, MN

Current Member

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Crystal N. Wise is an assistant professor in literacy education at the University of Minnesota. Her work broadly focuses on early literacy development as well as historical and contemporary language and literacy practices of African Americans. In her current research on Prince, she explores his lyrics, artistry, and life as liberation and resistance. 

Northumbria University

Paisley, Scotland

Current Member

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Casci Ritchie is a fashion and cultural historian, writer and lecturer who specialises in Prince, fashion in film and music, consumption, identities, and fandom. She is a third PhD candidate at Northumbria University, her thesis is titled ‘Fashioning the Love Symbol: The design, fan cultures and consumption of Prince Rogers Nelson’. Her book On His Royal Badness: The Life and Legacy of Prince’s Fashion was published in 2021 and she has also published widely in peer-reviewed academic journals including Critical Studies in Men’s Fashion, Queer Studies in Media and most recently Journal for Asia-Pacific Pop Culture.

Miami University

Miami, FL

Current Member

 

Serona Elton is an experienced music industry professional and educator. She is a full professor and Chair of the Music Industry Department at the University of Miami Frost School of Music, and a Yamaha Master Educator. She also serves as Head of Educational Partnerships for The Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC). She has held numerous executive positions at major music companies and leadership roles in music industry and music-related member-based organizations. She is co-author of the Music Business Handbook and Career Guide (13th Edition) and is frequently asked to comment on the music industry for CNN.com, NPR, and other media outlets.

Purple Knights Podcast

Le Center, MN

Current Member

 

Chris Johnson is an independent researcher from Le Center, Minnesota. He is also a podcaster, writer, and part-time tutor. Chris earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in French and English from Augustana University in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. As an undergrad, he was nominated by professors to Pi Delta Phi, The National French Honor Society, and to Sigma Tau Delta, The International English Honor Society.

 

Chris’ research interests lie in popular culture, the history of American music, French literature and culture, and advocacy for the Americans with Disabilities Act. He has been a fan of Minneapolis musician, Prince Rogers Nelson, from the age of three. Chris hosts a podcast, the Purple Knights Podcast, a round-table discussion on Prince and related artists and people; new episodes are posted online every few months.

Middle Tennessee State University,

Murfreesboro, TN

Founding and Emeritus Member

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Mike Alleyne (Ph.D.) has served as a Full Professor in the Department of Recording

Industry at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) and is also a Visiting Professor at

the Pop Akademie in Mannheim, Germany.

He is the co-editor of the award-winning anthology Analyzing Recorded Music

(2023), recognized by the Society for Music Theory (SMT) as an Outstanding Multi-Author

Publication. In 2025, Alleyne will publish Black British Music in America 1967-2000: Atlantic Crossover (Ashgate) and The Routledge Handbook to the Popular Music Cover

Song: Vivid Versions and Musical Subjectivities, co-edited by Lori Burns.