It is our great pleasure to serve this beautiful state of Arkansas as the Past President, current President and President Elect of the Arkansas Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association

Our wonderful state of Arkansas has risen to wonderful musical heights after the many hurdles that have been placed in our paths. We are amazed at the resiliency of the directors and their students. You all are heros.

We are thankful to work alongside an amazing board that continues to serve the choral musicians of this great state. Arkansas ACDA strives to be a supportive resource and alongside our sister organization, ArkCDA, we will work to assist our wonderful colleagues with professional development opportunities that pertain to our careers as choral musicians.

We are working to build our membership both at the high school level, collegiate level and the professional level. We want to further expand our offerings beyond the Summer Conference which has served to energize and educate our state choral educators. We look forward to the next Summer Conference, July 31-August 2, 2023, at the Wyndham Riverfront in North Little Rock AR. On Sunday July 30, we will host our first in person “Young Scrappy and Hungry”, an Immersion Day for young teachers and collegiate students held at the Wyndham as well.

With the remarkable foundation that our predecessors have laid, this cabinet is moving forward with the addition of new honor choir opportunities, and we have some exciting news to announce. We will host our first-ever ARACDA Middle Level Honor Choir (Grades 5-9) directed by Rashaad Calaham, Director of Choirs at Fossil Hill Middle School. We will also be hosting another first! Ryan Sullivan, Director of Choral Activities at Arkansas State University will be directing our first ever ARACDA Common Region Music Training Honor Choir (Grades 9-12).

We are thrilled to be part of the journey of this organization. We will continue to follow in the footsteps of the incredible Presidents that came before us and work diligently to continue their vision for the growth of our chapter. Thank you for trusting us to serve this great state of Arkansas and its phenomenal choral music educators and the educators that are to come.

With Gratitude,

Cherie, Larry, and Jeffrey