• As most of you know, the 29th ISME World Conference will take place in Beijing, China from August 1-6, 2010. As the national affiliate to ISME, CMEA will be participating in this important international event. Our Immediate Past President, Mary Dinn will be our delegate.

• Congratulations to our Vice-President Theodora Stathopoulos for her nomination as a candidate for the ISME Board of Directors. If you are an ISME member, you are likely aware that the election is currently in progress. I encourage you to consider supporting our Canadian candidate.  

• The Elected Board is preparing to implement the Restructuring Plan approved at our 2009 AGM. Implementation is scheduled for July 1, 2010. Preparations include rewriting the Constitution and Policy Manual, reorganizing the committee structure, and soliciting a slate of nominees for election to the CMEA Board this fall at the AGM.

• In early June, I attended the concurrent conferences of the Canadian University Music Society (CUMS) and the Canadian Association of Music Libraries (CAML) held at the University of Regina. The purpose of my visit was to initiate discussions with members of the respective Boards of Directors of these two organizations as to how we might collaborate and support each other for the betterment of Canadian music education. Discussions were very productive throughout the weekend and we generated several ideas that weekend that will make improvements at little or no cost to either organization. The other purpose was to extend the CMEA/ACME presence in the extended music education community.

• As reported earlier, similar discussions have taken place with the Canadian Federation of Music Teachers’ Associations (CFMTA) and Ken Epp of the Canadian Band Association (CBA) and at UNITE 2010 (Carl Orff Canada Conference) and the North American ISME Summit. According to our Restructuring Plan we also have an agreement with the Coalition for Music Education in Canada (CMEC) whereby we will have reciprocal Board members sitting on each other’s Boards. And we’re not done yet! These initiatives will ultimately result in a stronger network and alliances among organizations involved in any aspect of music education in Canada and beyond. Truly there is strength in numbers. The climate for such overtures generally seems to be very positive. People seem receptive and the possibilities are very exciting! Now’s the Time! (Charlie Parker)

World Conference on Arts Education, 2010: The 2nd World Conference on Arts 

• Education was held in Seoul, Republic of Korea in May. In preparation, 
  UNESCO conducted a questionnaire to Member States to assess the implementation of the Road Map for Arts Education developed at the first World Conference on Arts Education in 2006 and provide an overview on the status of arts education. Members of the CMEA/ACME have some serious concerns about several aspects of the Report for Canada. Given limited time prior to the Conference after receiving the report, I wrote a brief addendum to the report that UNESCO Chair Larry O’Farrell agreed to address at the presentation of the Report for Canada. I, with input from the Elected Board, will be writing a more detailed response expressing our concerns. I will keep you posted regarding this issue in future publications once our response is submitted.

Ed Wasiak - President