Welcome! As ILMEA expands its digital footprint, the State Office team discovered the need for a space to give ILMEA updates, discuss education topics and present calls to action. I am very excited to bring this content to stakeholders throughout the year!

Digital and Print
The biggest news in the State Office today is the brand new ILMEA website! Designed completely in-house by Lori Evenhouse, ILMEA’s Program Manager, this site brings a streamlined, modern feel to the organization’s flagship digital presence. The goal is an online experience that allows visitors to find the necessary information as efficiently as possible while also promoting all the amazing work of ILMEA. For those that participate in the District Festival experience, you will notice that all District and Division pages have been made more consistent, with links to all the important documents that lived on the previous site. If you have feedback on the new site or suggestions for content to be featured on the site, please share it at stateoffice@ilmeaorg.

Also coming out of Lori’s office, I hope that everyone has taken the time to explore the Illinois Music Educator Journal (IMEJ). First published in 1941, the IMEJ has grown and evolved throughout its history from a half-sized booklet of ILMEA listings to the beautiful magazine we have today. The journal’s mission is to bring curated music education content with immediate classroom application to ILMEA members. This year the fall edition is being mailed to all principals and superintendents in Illinois to introduce them to ILMEA and assist in advocating for school participation and professional leave for the Illinois Music Education Conference (IMEC) in January. Please look for it in your mailbox near August 20!

Professional Development
Under the guidance of Emily Petway, ILMEA’s Educational Programs Manager, our catalogue of professional development is ever expanding. Partnerships with ROEs and school districts have brought content-specific PD out into the state. These interactive sessions are scheduled to be 90- minutes long but can be tailored to fit the timeframe of your day. The honorarium for the presentation is $150 per 90-minute session and presenter mileage at $0.30 a mile. Topics currently available for immediate presentation are:

Classroom Management
Comprehensive Musicianship Through Performance (CMP)
Illinois Music Learning Standards
Rehearsal Techniques
Standards-Based Grading in the Music Classroom
Student-Led Music Learning
Technology Tools for Music Education

If you have a school-wide, district-wide or even county-wide PD-day, please feel free to reach out to Emily to request a clinician with a music education focus!

Do you know a brand new music educator? Please refer them to the ILMEA Bridge Mentorship Program. This online program allows new educators to experience their first year in the classroom alongside a cohort of music educators from around the state. Moderated by Glenn Williams, Fine Arts Department Chair at Downers Grove South High School in Downers Grove, this program includes discussions with mentor teachers and experts throughout the year, as well as a breakfast meeting at IMEC.

"There aren't many opportunities to sit and talk with other first-year teachers, but the Bridge Mentor Program gave us just that - a place where you can talk to people going through almost the exact same conflicts and mental challenges that you are. If anything, this program reminds you that you are not alone out there.”
Jessen T. Smith, Bridge Mentorship Participant.

Speaking of IMEC, the schedule for the 2019 conference is now available! We look forward to a great opening night concert by award-winning recording artists James Hill and Anne Janelle, an energetic, up-lifting keynote by Jonathan Edison and an amazing line-up of clinics and concerts. Check out the Making Your Case page for information to provide your administrators to advocate for professional leave to join us in Peoria.

Outside of ILMEA-planned events, we subcontract the issuance of PD credit for affiliated music education organizations. If you attend Conn-Selmer University, a Little Kids Rock event or take part in the NAfME Academy of online learning (among many others), the PD you earn will count in Illinois thanks to ILMEA’s certification as an approved PD provider. Always be sure to verify that any PD you attend is granted by an ISBE-approved provider. If not, you run the risk of that PD not counting toward your certificate renewal. Any questions? Please contact Emily Petway!

New Programs
Styled after the TED-talk experience, MusEd presented by ILMEA will premier on Thursday, September 18, 2018 at North Central College in Naperville. Registration is $40 for members and $60 for nonmembers. Registration includes lunch and professional development credit! Come here the following exemplary music educators bring their best 18-minutes of professional development:

Chip Staley (ArtSpeaks)
Richard Saucedo (Conn-Selmer, Composer)
Joyce McCall (University of Illinois)
Cheryl Frazes-Hill (Roosevelt/CSO/Milwaukee Chorus)
Michael Gibson (Musicality)
Dana Hall (DePaul University)
Susan Vaughn (New Trier High Five)
Alejandra Boyer (Lyric Opera)

After numerous requests from Illinois music educators, ILMEA will be piloting an Adjudicated Events series in the Spring of 2019. These large-ensemble format events will be based on feedback with an extended panel of clinicians in beautiful concert-hall facilities. Each ensemble will receive a 30-minute clinic following their performance for the full clinician panel. Information on dates and locations are available now!

Another new student program is the ILMEA Nomination Festival. Based on the existing District Festival model, these two events will be pilots for a spring-based series that allows students who did not participate in the previous fall’s District Festival ensembles an amazing honor event. Our first event will be for senior-level students on March 23 with a junior-level event following on March 30. Locations are being finalized and will be posted as soon as they are available.

In addition to all these amazing new events and expanded digital and print publications, ILMEA remains committed to its traditional student programs. The District and Division Presidents are busy with the District Representatives planning the 2018 District Festival season! Auditions begin on Saturday, September 22 in ILMEA District 7 and continue through Columbus Day. Then every Saturday is November is packed with festivals throughout the state! Check your ILMEA District's page for information on your District’s events!

A roster of 639 music educators created the “Illinois Music Educators Association” in 1939. Over the past 79 years, ILMEA has become synonymous with music education in Illinois. With a vision of “high quality music education for all Illinois learners,” we look to the future with a new digital and print look, new features to assist all stakeholders, and continued commitment to all that has made ILMEA great!