• ....is a non-profit educational institution 501(c)(3) located in historic Point Richmond, CA, USA and was founded in 1984 by Dr. Marcia A Herndon, Executive Director (1984-97). Dr. Cynthia Tse Kimberlin joined the Institute in 1986 and is currently Executive Director.
• ....addresses the impact of music on contemporary problems and issues through theoretical, comparative and applied research. Particular focus is given to research and studies having worldwide implications and cross-cultural applications.
• ....disseminates research results and studies at meetings, to organizations and institutions, through MRI Press publications which are used also as educational materials in the classroom, and other publishers such as the Bayreuth African Studies Series (Bayreuth University, Germany) and the Centre for Intercultural Musicology at Churchill College, Cambridge, UK.
• ....offers recommendations for planning, implementing and evaluating music and arts related programs. 
• ....maintains ties with local, national and international constituencies including the Society for Ethnomusicology, The College Music Society, American Folklife Center - Library of Congress, and the International Council for Traditional Music. The Music Research Institute is one of ten founding member organizations of the International Consortium for the Music of Africa & its Diaspora (ICMAD) whose Secretariat is based in St. Louis, Missouri, USA.

Projects

• Theories, methodologies, and descriptive studies of music 
• Comparative studies of music traditions
• Intercultural Music after 1950 
• Ethical issues in music e.g. fieldwork, performance, documentation, ownership
• Worlds without Boundaries: MRI Biographies in Music 
• MusicWatch (relevant to national policies that restrict musical genres, creative musical expression, or the free movement of musicians) For Information see FreeMuse