Mission

NAfME is a collaborative community that supports music educators and advocates for equitable access to music education.

Vision

NAfME is an association where all people are heard, seen, and feel they belong throughout their lifelong experiences in music.

Belief Statement

Music is unique to the human experience and is essential to our humanity.

  • Music communicates and connects people across all time and cultures. 
  • Music unlocks human creative expression and is a lens to the experiences and interpretations of the world. 
  • Music is basic to human wholeness through our emotions, intellect, and physical and spiritual well-being.
2022 ANHE Mixed Choir male singers rehearsing

What People Are Saying About the Strategic Plan

"NAfME’s new strategic plan features an updated mission and vision, along with actionable goals for each cornerstone (Advocacy and Public Policy, Professional Learning and Growth, and Music Research and Music Teacher Education) and the keystone, Equity. I am inspired to think about the kind of organization we will become as we undertake the work outlined here."

— Karen Salvador, Michigan State University
NAfME Equity Committee, National Executive Board, North Central Division, Immediate Past President

"What really excites me about the NAfME Strategic Plan is that it has evolved from direct and transparent collaboration with association members, committees, and the National Executive Board.  To know that voices are being listened to and that action is taking place based on a myriad of conversations and feedback only inspires me to help serve our profession further and NAfME as a whole."

— Jared Cassedy, Lexington Public Schools, MA
NAfME Equity Committee

"This new strategic plan will guide NAfME into the future as a more equitable and interconnected organization, representing and engaging all facets of the music education enterprise in meaningful ways."

— Carlos R. Abril, University of Miami
Society for Research in Music Education, Chair

"Sometimes the creation of a strategic plan winds up being a perfunctory act and our part of that creation is an act of compliance.  The new NAfME strategic plan is one of the most organic I’ve ever been a part of and has created a fervent sense of community as we have collaborated for months.  We have grappled, reflected, and intentionally questioned where we are and where we want to be and it is through this process we will become better."

— James G. Daugherty, Davidson County Schools, NC
NAfME National Executive Board, Southern Division President

"I am extremely proud to work for an organization that is very intentional about amplifying the voices of ALL of our members: past, present and future."

Johnathan Hamiel, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, NC
NAfME Equity Committee, North Carolina Music Educators Association, President

"The writing team that I worked with brought together some of the most articulate, innovative and passionate professionals who each contributed to the process.   Team members ranged from college students to professors, teachers, and administrators.  The work resulted in a strategic plan that reflects a collective and collaborative process that provides a “road map” as NAfME continues to grow and prosper.  This strategic plan, like a map, is a living document and will be updated over time."

— Sue Barre, Waterville High School, ME
NAfME National Executive Board, Eastern Division President

"The NAfME Strategic Plan 2022 articulates goals at the national level that simultaneously inspire and support our collective work at the state and local levels."

— Matt Koperniak, Fulton County Schools, GA
Georgia Music Educators Association, President

"I’m excited about the Strategic Plan.  The hard work developing, rewriting, and editing has paid off!  The plan provides clarity, and transparency of what it means to be a part of NAfME. "

— Tom Muller, David Douglas School District, OR
NAfME National Executive Board, Northwest Division, President

"This all-embracing plan, which centers Equity as the keystone, is going to serve as a North Star for all of NAfME and its affiliate MEAs.  The priorities and directions in this strategic plan are clear, and rooted in 'doing the right thing.'  This document is going to provide MEAs that need to engage in this transformational work a path and support for making courageous moves designed to serve our" communities more equitably, and more comprehensively.

Elizabeth Fortune, Ballard High School, Seattle, WA
NAfME Orchestra Council, Chair

"I’m very excited for the direction of the Advocacy & Public policy section of the new strategic plan. In the time since COVID, I think just about everywhere has seen attacks on music programs, or at the least, a gross misunderstanding of their importance. I think it’s important for NAfME to unify and leverage as much as possible ALL of the various decision makers in the music education community, including our roughly 40,000+ members plus students, parents, music businesses, etc. and utilize their combined voice to help ensure that every student in the United States has access to a quality music education taught by qualified music educators."

Brian Drumbore, Brandywine High School, DE
Delaware Music Educators Association, President

"This plan, a first of its kind, is both proactive and responsive with its keystone of equity.  With a direct focus on historically marginalized communities and practices in music education, it provides an articulated vision to resource and value all human music making.  It recognizes the power of music educators to enact change and provides the means to do so through enhanced professional development, empowered advocacy and informed research.  Acting on this plan will move music education forward as we take more steps toward realizing the meaningful making of music by ALL."

Michael Raiber, Mustang Public Schools, OK
NAfME National Executive Board, Southwest Division, Immediate Past President, NAfME Equity Committee