GUEST BLOG: “Milestones to Celebrate” by Tim Sharp

       As we end another year and look forward to entering our 55th year as a professional association, the American Choral Directors Association has several milestones to celebrate, and much to look forward to in the coming year.

       Beginning in January, and then continuing throughout the year, we look forward to gathering together in our focused areas of choral interest in a variety of workshops, festivals, retreats, and conferences, all serving our various Repertoire and Standards interest areas and our general membership. On January 18–19, 2014, we look forward to gathering together for our third ACDA Children’s and Community Youth Choir Conductor’s Retreat.  I am personally excited about learning from our excellent faculty and from each other as we gather in Minneapolis as directors of choirs for children and youth. Throughout February and March we hold our professional ACDA Division Conferences in seven cities across the United States. I look forward to attending each of these events, and hope to see many of you at these signature professional conferences. A very special feature of this year’s division conferences is the hosting of our International Conductor Exchange Program with conductors coming from China to be a part of our educational offerings. In May we are proud to present the second National Middle School/Junior High Conference for Choral Music at the University of North Texas. In June, ACDA is pleased to advance its ongoing work at supporting the best in choral composition by presenting the ACDA/Lehigh University cosponsored 2014 Summer Choral Composers Forum, with this year’s instructors including Grammy nominated and ASCAP award winning composer, Tania León, and ACDA Brock composer Steven Sametz. ACDA continues to prioritize efforts at engaging male singers, so we are happy to offer the International Boys and Men’s Choral Festival in July in Tucson. Also in July, our second ACDA National Honor Youth Choir will travel on a concert tour to China led by ACDA conductors Karl Chang and Eugene Rogers. In August, ACDA will once again be pleased to support the International Federation for Choral Music’s Tenth World Symposium on Choral Music, August 6–13, in Seoul, South Korea. We are very proud of the ACDA directors, choirs, and presenters leading in this world event.

       In June of 2014, our State and Division Presidents, Treasurers, Standing Committees, National Board, and Executive Committee gather in Salt Lake City, Utah, site of our 2015 ACDA National Conference, for our National Leadership Conference. This event is a training, planning, and visioning event for our association, as well as a time for our national leadership to see the exciting venues and hear of the innovative planning that will lead up to our February 25–28, 2015 National Conference. This biennial event has grown to involve over one hundred of our national leaders, and has helped shape the course for the action of ACDA worldwide.

       Another milestone we celebrate together at the close of this year is our first ever national membership drive, Sing Up! This campaign has engaged our membership in a new level of membership and mentorship awareness that we know will pay dividends for the good of ACDA’s choral mission for years to come. Our Director of Membership Development, Sundra Flansburg, is happy to report “Almost every state has actively participated in the drive, thanks to engaged state and division leadership.” She continues, “I’ve been very impressed with the star quality shown in leadership, social media, and creativity at the state level.” We will continue to see the results of our fall membership drive in the New Year.

       And finally, our membership was able to bring our ACDA Constitution and Bylaws into various areas of 21st century practice as we overwhelmingly approved a variety of revisions to our governing documents. These changes not only reflect a contemporary and renewed association, but also demonstrate we have strong new ways to communicate and to do our business as a membership organization.

       I am thrilled at these milestones of development that have resulted from our work in strategic planning and focus on ACDA’s mission of inspiring excellence in choral music education, performance, composition and advocacy. I invite you to join me in my excitement and anticipation toward the new initiatives we will develop together in the new year as we inaugurate our national mentorship program, develop new collaborations with sister and brother organizations, launch our new Web site, initiate new international publication features, and participate in the exciting innovations taking place within states and throughout our divisions.