The Study Group on Music and Dance of Oceania (SGMDO) is an informal association of scholars within the ICTM who share interests in the study of music and dance of Oceania. They meet when opportunities arise to discuss their research and periodically exchange information through an internal newsletter. Special meetings have been held in Australia in 1988, 1995, 2001 and 2010; Germany in 1993; Japan in 1999; Palau in 2004; Hawai'i in 2006, Papua New Guinea in 2014, and Guam in 2016. Informal gatherings have been held on other occasions, such as the Festivals of Pacific Arts and the Melanesian Arts Festivals, and in conjunction with meetings of other scholarly societies in which SGMDO members participated. In 2001 members of the Study Group published the book Traditionalism and Modernity in the Music and Dance of Oceania in honour of study group founder Barbara Smith, in 2007 the book Oceanic Music Encounters: the Print Resource and the Human Resource: Essays in Honour of Mervyn McLean, and in 2017 the book A Distinctive Voice in the Antipodes: Essays in Honour of Stephen A. Wild.

The Study Group offers contributions toward travel to its symposia for Pacific Islanders and Indigenous Australians through the Music and Dance of Oceania Travel Award. This fund is managed by the Study Group and provides opportunities to participate in symposia, and on special occasions, a World Conference. The award is also aimed at encouraging more participation from currently under-represented areas of Oceania within ICTM activities. The establishment of the award was generously funded by Barbara B. Smith. For further information, contact the Chair .

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