Sharp Outlines Strategic Imperatives for ACDA

from Tim Sharp, ACDA Executive Director

As the American Choral Directors Association works to advance four initiatives outlined for ACDA for the 21st century—establishing the opportunity for every child to sing in a choir; becoming fully engaged in world choral initiatives; setting the research and publication agenda for the best thinking, past and present, in choral music; utilizing the full extent of technological communication and other technologies for the benefit of our membership--we will do this work guided by two stragetic imperatives.

The first strategic imperative is to recognize and embrace our
interconnectedness with other choral music education and performance
organizations. We simply cannot do this work alone. Former U.S.
president Bill Clinton put it this way: “My simple premise is that the
mission of the 21st century is to build up the positive and reduce the
negative forces of interdependence. I’ll ask myself on any profound
issue: will this increase positive interdependence or reduce negative
interdependence?” In order to achieve our objectives for choral music,
we must build up the positive music forces of interdependence.

The second strategic imperative for ACDA is to recognize and embrace
the need for generativity in our ongoing work as choral directors. In
other words, we must have a mindset of mentoring: mentoring those
looking to us for choral expertise, mentoring each other, and mentoring
those that follow us.

These two imperatives—one outward looking, and the other inward
looking—will go a long way in helping us achieve the purposes of ACDA
in fostering and promoting choral music, but more importantly, they
will help us perpetuate our ultimate goal of fostering and promoting
the language of life, a language that is beautifully conveyed through the choral art.