Eastman Hosts Conference for Current and Future Music School Leaders

The Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester will present The Eastman Leadership Conference from June 21 to 24 where current and future music school leaders will have the opportunity to learn and discuss policies, programs, and strategies in a collaborative, professional, and musically rich environment.

Leaders from three prominent music schools will headline the conference: Jamal J. Rossi, the Joan and Martin Messinger Dean of the Eastman School of Music; Toni-Marie Montgomery, Dean of the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University; and Robert Cutietta, Dean of the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California.

“Music leaders face a continually changing professional music world for which to prepare both their graduates and institutions, while simultaneously embracing innovation and honoring our traditions,” said Rossi. “This conference will help prepare emerging leaders to identify and analyze the most critical issues facing us, and to develop the skills and strategies to meet them.”

Conference participants will work on both hard and soft skills, according to conference facilitator and Director of Eastman’s Institute for Music Leadership Jim Doser.

“Topics range from understanding the elements of financial management in music schools, to effectively navigating the essential relationship between faculty and administration,” he explained. Participants will continue discussion of conference topics in cohorts that interact via online activities in the academic year following the conference.

A competitive Graduate Student Fellowship program will allow five exceptional graduate students to participate in the conference and work alongside the participants and faculty.

The conference dovetails with the start of the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival, one of North America’s leading music festivals and a major cultural activity for the Rochester region.

For more information visit the website at www.musicleadership.org, or contact Jim Doser, Director, Institute for Music Leadership, Eastman School of Music,[email protected]; (585) 274-1470.