Urban Initiatives

ACDA recognizes that its members serve choral programs that are primarily located in suburban, academic or rural areas and that the city or urban choral programs are under-served.  Urban Initiatives is a program designed to engage and involve choirs of all genres that service Urban or city areas.  There is a great wealth and variety of choral music located within the urban environment including the traditional church choir, many choirs of different world traditions, community choirs, school choirs, and others. ACDA believes that these choirs often are unrecognized and often function in isolation but that the choral traditions are significant and important to the overall health of choral music.  One goal of the Urban Initiatives is to provide opportunities for these urban choirs to share the musical traditions with each other and eventually with ACDA as a whole.

We would like to schedule Urban Initiative events in 2011 for the following locations:

• Boston, MA;
• New York City; and
• Washington, DC

If you are interested in having your ensemble to participate, or would host an event, please provide the following contact information:

•  Your Name
•  Name of your organization
•  Location of your organization
•  Email address
•  Phone number

Dates for the 2011 festivals will be posted on the Eastern Division ACDA website very soon.

Sincerely,
Tony Leach, Co-Chair, ACDA Eastern Division Urban Coalition
Sam Martinborough, Co-Chair, ACDA Eastern Division Urban Coalition

Co-Chair for Urban Initiatives - Anthony Leach Tony Leach, Associate Professor of music/music education at Penn State University, teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in choral music education and conducts Essence of Joy and the Penn State University Choir. He is co-chair of the ACDA Eastern Division Urban Coalition Initiative. Contact Information - ATL105@psu.edu   814-867-2526		Co-Chair for Urban Initiatives - Sam Martinborough Sam is the Founder and Director of Mssng Lnks, a non-profit working with under-served youth pursuing careers in classical vocal music. He also directs both the Youth and Adult choirs at the Community Music Center of Boston and serves as Music Director at the Congregational Church of Weston. PO Box 230913, Boston MA 02123. 781.799.5768 smartinborough@mssnglnks.org

Last revised May 01, 2012