diff --git a/program/migrations/0073_alter_note_tags.py b/program/migrations/0073_alter_note_tags.py
index f8c8102dbbeedfdd3604ee394c61deeb7764db70..fb17daec99dc731ecf9611ff1fd1a0ed4af6a6dc 100644
--- a/program/migrations/0073_alter_note_tags.py
+++ b/program/migrations/0073_alter_note_tags.py
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ class Migration(migrations.Migration):
             old_name="tags",
         ),
         migrations.AddField(
-            field=models.JSONField(blank=True),
+            field=models.JSONField(blank=True, default=list),
             model_name="note",
             name="tags",
         ),
diff --git a/program/models.py b/program/models.py
index 9c52d84b0a308d5f1dcb27a098dfc24794586b3f..9080e4f3bf5e81988a400164e66ea270692b15c2 100644
--- a/program/models.py
+++ b/program/models.py
@@ -447,7 +447,7 @@ class Note(models.Model):
     # TODO: this requires show in the model and an unique_together constraint. Do we need this?
     slug = models.SlugField(blank=True, max_length=32)
     summary = models.TextField(blank=True)
-    tags = models.JSONField(blank=True)
+    tags = models.JSONField(blank=True, default=list)
     timeslot = models.OneToOneField(TimeSlot, null=True, on_delete=models.SET_NULL, unique=True)
     title = models.CharField(max_length=128)
     updated_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now=True, blank=True, null=True)