President's Message

by Anne Fennell, CMEA President

It’s been a busy 5 weeks for CMEA with CASMEC February 15-19 and Stand Up 4 Arts in Sacramento on Tuesday, March 21; and we're filled with passion and support for music education!

I enjoyed seeing so many of you in Fresno at CASMEC, along with the many wonderful sessions and our collective commitment to learn, connect, and share. There is always a palpable energy when music educators come together. I want to share a few moments that made this conference such a special event. In addition to exceeding our conference attendance from last year, we held our first-ever joint Kickoff Celebration and Awards event with our CASMEC partners: CAJ, CBDA, CCDA, and CODA. It was a time to catch-up, honor, and recognize dedicated and distinguished members, while enjoying an organization's signature cocktail.

We also held our first-ever elementary classroom music performances in the convention center lobby, provided by local elementary students and ensembles.It was wonderful to feel the happy anticipation of elementary students preparing to perform, see beaming parents' smiles as they watched their children sing and play, and to hear music floating through the lobby. I think the most powerful moment for me was watching a father in the front row of the standing audience, mouth the words of every song to his daughter, throughout the entire performance. Afterwards, I made a point to tell him how much I enjoyed seeing his support of her singing and he said, “We worked so hard on each song. She practiced and practiced at home and I’m so proud of her. I just wanted to make sure she had all the words so she could be confident.” Yes, music and performing music is oftentimes a family affair because the ownership is authentic and parents want to see their children succeed and feel the joy of accomplishment. We will continue this tradition of elementary performances in the lobby at our annual conference, so keep a look out for performance requests coming this fall.

In addition to our celebration and the lobby performances, we revealed our new CMEA Strategic Plan during our Thursday General Session. This was co-created by our state-wide leadership over a 5-month period, and you can view the plan here.

This Strategic Plan, along with our Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access (DEIA) Policy will guide our planning, work, and organizational decisions moving forward. It will be our guiding documents for all organizational decisions. I’m so proud of the dedication and work that every leader in our organization completed - from the Executive Board to our Section Presidentsand that our collective vision is clear: to ensure that All California students have equitable access to UTK- 12 music education that embraces diverse and inclusive music-making throughout California. I’m confident that our core values and mission to serve our members in the state will make this a reality.

In our General Session, which we will now call our Welcome Session in 2024 (thank you, Tiffany Barry), we invited several TRI-M students to share What Music Means to Me. Adia Soriano from Harmony Magnet Academy (Zander Smith, Music Educator) shared, “....It means that I have an outlet to express my emotions and ideas, and a supportive community where I can feel a sense of belonging. To me, music is a way to communicate with the world and bring people together in ways you can't elsewhere.” Samantha Chand (also from Harmony Magnet Academy - Zander Smith, Music Educator) shared, “Music means a lot to me. I believe music can change a person’s mood and brighten someone’s day. And that is why it is so important to me. If you can change someone’s day just by singing or playing a certain song or piece. I can’t imagine how much we can affect the world with what we have at our fingertips.” How inspiring it was to hear these students share their thoughts!

Our session closed with an update from our Western Division President, Scott Hedgecock and an inspiring keynote by Rafa Sardina, sponsored by Focusrite. Rafa clearly highlighted the many benefits of music and the skills that we inherently bring to our students, and the music industry, for those possible and future employees sitting in our classes. With every sharing of ideas and thoughts, I was reminded that In the midst of our many, seemingly endless, demands and student needs, we need to intentionally pause to remind ourselves that every action we take and every word we speak is contributing to a human’s development that will forever be a part of their creative and unique life. We’re so fortunate to have music as the medium in this journey!

After February we moved our focus to our first in-person Stand Up 4 Arts Day in Sacramento, since 2019! After months and months of planning, we were thrilled to welcome student performances and sharing from CAEA, CDEA, CETA, and of course CMEA, kicked off the morning that led into our Noontime Welcome where each arts organization president spoke on behalf of arts education. We collectively shared a California Senate Resolution created by Senator Anthony J. Portantino, officially declaring March 21, 2023 as Stand Up 4 Arts Education Day. During the day CMEA board members and industry partners from NAMM visited the offices of assembly members and senators to share the benefits of music and music education, offer thanks for their support, and discuss future needs. Our most urgent and number one ask was for clarity surrounding Prop 28 as we navigate this new proposition and its implementation. A huge shout out to John Brashier, our CMEA Stand Up 4 Arts Coordinator who helped organize the performances and who kept the run-of-show moving!

I continue to be proud of all that we do in our organization for teachers and students, and I was reminded that we are so fortunate to work in a state that appreciates the value of arts education and that we as educators are able to reach out to our representatives, voice our needs, and engage in conversations.

Now we find ourselves in April and nearing the end of our 2223 school year! May your spring be filled with fantastic culminating events that leave you proud of all that you’ve given to your students and the growth of their learning and your program.