The Music Education Policy Roundtable is a music education advocacy and public policy group made up of an alliance of organizations dedicated to ensuring the presence and perseverance of school music programs operated by certified music educators teaching sequential, standards-based music education to students across the nation. It was founded in June 2012 by the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) and American String Teachers Association (ASTA).. The organization was formalized in June 2012 with a roundtable discussion in front of the executive members of the fifty state music education organizations. The group lobbies the government for higher music education standards a few times a year.
The alliance of organizations that sit on the roundable include:
VH1 Save the Music Foundation
The Recording Academy
American Choral Directors Association
American Orff-Schulwerk Association
American String Teachers Association
Chorus America
Drum Corps International
Education Through Music
Gordon Institute for Music Learning
GRAMMY Foundation
Innovate School Music (iSchoolMusic.org)
League of American Orchestras
Music Teachers National Association
National Association for Music Education
National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM)
National Music Council
Organization of American Kodály Educators
Percussive Arts Society
Phi Mu Alpha
Quadrant Arts Education Research
The very first meeting of the original “Music Education Policy Roundtable,” took place on February 7, 2011 at the NafME Headquarters (then MENC: The National Association for Music Education). This was prior to its formalization as a coalition, the inaugural members included::
Michael A. Butera – National Association for Music Education (then MENC: The National Association for Music Education)
Mike Blakeslee – National Association for Music Education (then MENC: The National Association for Music Education)
Marlynn Likens – National Association for Music Education (then MENC: The National Association for Music Education)
Chris Woodside – National Association for Music Education (then MENC: The National Association for Music Education)
Nancy Townes – National Association for Music Education (then MENC: The National Association for Music Education)
Donna Sizemore Hale – American String Teachers Association
Mary Jane Dye – American String Teachers Association
Deb Bissen – American String Teachers Association
Laurie Lock – VH1 Save the Music Foundation
Chris Purifoy - Innovate School Music (iSchoolMusic.org)
Narric Rome – Americans for the Arts
Heather Noonan – League of American Orchestras
Catherine Davies – Chorus America
Sam Hope – National Association of Schools of Music
Leo Coco – Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, LLP
