Board of directors takes action - National Association News - association partnerships and planning

American Music Teacher, Oct-Nov, 2003

At its July 2003 meeting, the MINA board of Directors took action on a number of items.

Strategic Planning

Foremost on the agenda was the development of a strategic plan for the association, The board adopted a "Big Audacious Goal" and established goals for this biennium, as well as the next decade, (See President Phyllis Pieffer's "In Unison" column on page 4 for more details.)

MTNA FOUNDATION FUND

With the integration of the MTNA FOUNDATION into MTNA, it was necessary to establish a mission for the new FOUNDATION Development Program. The board voted to establish fundraising for market development as the primary purpose of this program. The board believes the development of a market--people who want to take music lessons--is paramount to the continuation of the music teaching profession; therefore, MTNA must be proactive in its efforts to increase the number of music students.

Performance Competitions

In the competitions area, the Board of Directors approved a proposal to equalize the monetary awards for all instruments within the various performance categories. At all levels except Chamber Music, merit awards will be $100. Teacher/coach awards will be $200 for all levels. At the Junior Level, national winners in all instrument categories will receive $1,000, and second place will receive $500. National winners at the Senior level will receive $2,000; second place will receive $1,000. At the Young Artist level, national winners will be awarded $3,000, second place will receive $1,500. Finally, National winners of the Chamber Music competition will receive $3,000, second place will be awarded $1,500. There are no merit awards for the Chamber Music competition.

To make this equalization possible, the distribution committee of the Allen I. McHose Scholarship Trust voted unanimously to discontinue its funding of the $50 travel grants it had been awarding and redirect those funds to the competition awards. Therefore, travel grants are discontinued immediately.

Conferences

In other business, the Board approved Austin, Texas, as the site of the 2006 MTNA National Conference. Board members also voted to partner with the Canadian Federation of Music Teachers' Associations (CFMTA) to hold a joint conference in Tomato in March 2007. Since 1998, there have been ongoing talks regarding a joint conference. In July 2003, the CFMTA voted to pursue the joint meeting. Additionally, the Board of Directors selected Guy Duckworth and Karl Bruhn as the recipients of the 2004 Achievement Award.

The Board also approved a $2.3 million operating budget for fiscal year 2004.