Submit a Proposal for Face to Face Conference

Arts in Education Roundtable (New York, NY) is currently accepting proposals for their 2020 Face to Face conference in New York, NY. Submit your proposal for a session that explores topics in the area of arts education. The annual conference is a professional development conference for arts administrators, teaching artists, and others interested in the field of arts in education. The conference strives to demonstrate effective teaching and learning strategies for practitioners in the field of arts in education, as well as to provide forums for discussion of other critical issues such as equity, diversity, and inclusion; advocacy; research findings; assessment; community engagement; and organizational management. 

Learn more about the conference and submitting a proposal here. 
 

South Shore Conservatory Announces President’s Retirement

South Shore Conservatory (Duxbury, MA) announced that its president of 15 years, Kathy Czerny, will retire next year, in August 2020. She has spent 32 years in arts education. 

In a statement, Board of Trustees Chairman Derek Spence said  “Kathy has been a remarkable visionary leader who has led the expansion of SSC’s overall mission, broadening access to the arts across the South Shore through our award-winning ImagineARTS programming, as well as the creation of a robust Creative Arts Therapy department,” said Spence. “As we reach the milestone of our 50th Anniversary in the year ahead, we cannot help but acknowledge the indelible mark that Kathy has left on SSC and the South Shore arts community.”

Under Czerny’s leadership, enrollment at SSC’s two campuses in Hingham and Duxbury has nearly doubled. Additionally, SSC has developed new programs and partnerships that have expanded its geographic footprint and created greater access to music and the arts for people of all ages, socioeconomic backgrounds and abilities.

SSC’s Board of Trustees has formed a search committee to conduct a national search for Czerny’s replacement.

Lewis Prize for Music Announced

Leaders of youth music programs can submit a Letter of Interest to the Lewis Prize for Music. The Lewis Prize’s mission is to create fair and vibrant communities through music. Music is a potent force for inspiring positive social change. Young people who learn, perform, and create music of all genres are a source of talent and ingenuity for leading this change. Providing high-quality, diverse, music education brings the benefits of music to every person and every neighborhood.

They invite Letters of Interest from innovative leaders who are striving to give all young people access to learning and making music. Applications due by September 16.

Learn more and Apply.

San Francisco Community Music Center Awarded AIA Award

Community Music Center (San Fransisco, CA) announced that its Older Adult Program has been honored with a 2019 Aging Achievement Award  in the Social Engagement category by the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (n4a). The awards program is supported by WellCare Health Plans. CMC’s Older Adult Program was among 48 local aging programs to receive honors at the n4a Annual Conference & Tradeshow, July 27-31, New Orleans.

The 2019 n4a Aging Innovations and Achievement Awards recognizes Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) and Title VI Native American aging programs that develop and implement cutting-edge approaches to support older adults, people with disabilities and their family caregivers. Among the selection criteria was the ease with which other agencies could replicate the program in their communities. 

See the full listing of awardees here.

Race To Lead: Take the Survey

Race To Lead, a project of the Building Movement Project, is conducting a survey to help understand more about supports and barriers to nonprofit leadership. 

The data collected will inform the next round of Race to Lead reports, which explores the results of this survey and challenges the way the nonprofit sector has been approaching the racial leadership gap.

Take the survey here.

The culture cure: how prescription art is lifting people out of depression

Kulturvitaminer, or Culture Vitamins, is a program in Denmark is helping unemployed people suffering from depression, anxiety, and stress using art, culture, and music.  Partly funded by the Danish health authority, and administered by the local job center, the program offers a crash course in culture, from attending museums to singing to seeing shows. 

In an article in The Guardian, Mikael Odder Nielsen, the Aalborg course leader, says: “We wanted to see if we could make people’s mental health better, reduce social isolation and help them get back into the labour market via culture.”

"Culture as a cure is not a new idea. In 2008, the then UK health secretary, Alan Johnson, called for the arts to be part of mainstream healthcare, and in 2009, the Royal College of Psychiatrists recommended participation in the arts and developing creativity for the protection of mental health,," the article states. "A decade on, evidence for the impact of the arts on wellbeing is growing. Research shows that “art on prescription” is valued by referrers and participants alike, and is also cost-effective, with a reduction in the number of visits to the doctor and participants gaining transferable skills."

Read the full article here.

Meredith Barber Joins Merit School of Music

Meredith Barber has been appointed Vice President for Development & Marketing at Merit School of Music (Chicago, IL). Previously the Senior Director of Institutional Advancement at Rising Ground, a nonprofit social service organization in New York City, Barber brings more than 10 years of fundraising and philanthropy experience and track record of increasing revenue and galvanizing support for those in need to the role. Barber will be responsible for managing all fundraising and marketing efforts in support of Merit’s mission to provide equal access to a high-quality music education. Prior to her career in nonprofit management, Barber was a professional opera singer and sang roles with companies such as Santa Fe Opera, Sarasota Opera, and Portland Opera across the country as well as with many local companies and orchestras in Chicago including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Light Opera Works!, Chicago Opera Theater, and others.

“I am delighted to join the Merit School of Music and be a part of its mission to transform the lives of Chicagoland youth through the power of music.  As both a nonprofit leader and former professional musician, joining Merit gives me the unique opportunity to combine two of my greatest passions – music and social  and I look forward to supporting and promoting Merit’s continued positive impact in the community,” Barber shared.

 

Director of Community Music School on Lion King Soundtrack

Lecolion Washington, executive director of Community Music Center (Boston, MA) can be heard playing the bassoon on the soundtrack of the remake of the Lion King. He plays as part of the Re-Collective orchestra, a predominantly Black orchestra that played on the Black Panther soundtrack and was tapped to contribute work to the remake of the Disney film. 

“Each artist brings their selves. They bring their whole selves to the art. And the more perspectives you have,” Washington says, “the more colors overall that there are in the art, because you have a wider palette.”

Read the full story >>

Nomination Open for Converge Academy

LeaderStories, together with American Express and the Center for Creative Leadership, will convene a unique Leadership Academy for emerging social purpose leaders.

The goal of the Academy is to develop leaders within the nonprofit community who understand how:

  • Their personality and behavior influences their leadership style and effectiveness, and
  • Their own and others' preferred style of managing change enhances collaboration and builds organizational synergy to apply critical business skills important to the success of their organizations.

Participants will also develop a network of other leaders with whom they can share ideas and experiences and establish a set of realistic, measurable goals along with a plan of action to accomplish these goals.

Participants will have the unique opportunity to help select the focus of the third day’s training session from options provided by leading experts including Be Beneficent Consulting, Building Movement Project, the Campaign for Black Male Achievement, Coro Partners and ProInspire.

Learn more and submit a nomination >>

Arts Innovator Laura Zucker Joins The Music Man Foundation

Laura Zucker recently joined the board of the Music Man Foundation, bringing her philanthropic and arts experience to a foundation that approves grants totaling up to $3 million annually. The foundation supports arts and music education to improve children's lives, granting organizations ranging from hospitals, arts advocacy groups, and in-school service providers. 

Zucker is a current senior associate at AEA Consulting and senior fellow in Claremont Graduate University's Masters in Arts Management Program. She served for 25 years as the executive director of Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture and spent seven years on the board of Grantmakers in the Arts. She was also a founding board member of Los Angeles regional advocacy organization, Arts for LA, which created an annual fellowship in her honor, the Laura Zucker Cultural Policy Fellowship. 

Al Pivo, Vice President of The Music Man Foundation, shares, “Laura’s experience launching inclusive arts education programs and initiatives which advocate for cultural equity will serve us as we extend Meredith Willson’s contribution to the field of music through impactful and cost-efficient programs in our community.”