Hilary Apfelstadt, ACDA Interim Executive Director
The last 15 months have been challenging for us in many ways, personally as well as professionally. Now that we seem to be turning a corner in the pandemic, we see signs of optimism in the increasing vaccination numbers, the gradual loosening of restrictions, and in the promise of live concerts. Many of us look forward to in-person school this fall. ACDA teams are carefully planning our regional conferences for next spring as in-person events, and there are some live state events even this summer.
Even though we have been wearied by virtual events and feel the effects of “Zoom fatigue,” we recognize the positive power of those as they kept us connected and allowed many choral musicians to work on virtual projects or simply just to stay in touch. We learned that virtual connection was preferable to no connection. I was impressed by the sheer amount of activity on social media and the palpable level of support felt throughout the profession. You showed the meaning of “community.”
ACDA has been hard at work throughout this entire time, keeping members abreast of current events, gathering resources about COVID, and providing a marvelous virtual national conference that encouraged over 3500 grateful attendees, along with our usual schedule of publications and regular online communications including several well-received webinars. We are deeply thankful for your continued support of ACDA. Many of you were key in planning virtual events in your states, in collaborating with choral ensembles within and outside your own communities, and in keeping the choral fires alive. You were resilient, persistent, and diligent about that and we appreciate each of you. Thank you for remaining faithful to ACDA and helping us promote our purposes and initiatives, new and old. We have work to do as we come out of the pandemic and turn our attention to the future, but with your engagement, we will succeed!
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