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Last fall as my wife Paula and I were preparing for a downsizing move, we took inventory of items we needed to keep, and others that we needed to discard.  It was a careful and meticulous process that took many weeks to accomplish, but when finished, we took special stock of those cherished items that we carried with us to our new home.  The items that we moved helped to make a house our home.

Several weeks ago I offered our Daily Beat readership a glance at our own “inventory” that makes up ACDA-MN.  As we prepare to host a national conference, I think it’s fitting to once again look at the structure of what we have built together over the past 50+ years and be proud of those special items that make an organization our “home”.

Membership records from the ACDA national office as of October 1 reveals our highest membership count in history with 525 active members and 194 student members for a grand total of 907, making Minnesota the third largest ACDA chapter in the country, behind #1 California and #2 Iowa.

Our financial picture as of 12/31/16 shows an extraordinary healthy outlook with $156,000 in ACDA-MN assets and over $796,000 in investment holdings in our FMC Endowment Fund, for a total valuation of our organization at over $952,000.  The 2016-17 ACDA-MN annual budget expenses are projected at $276,508, and the FMC Endowment Fund budget expenses at $37,890.

To date, 123 ACDA-MN members are serving and leading the organization in either paid, elected or appointed positions.

Staff to develop and support our growing state organization is as follows:

Executive Director (full-time) – Bruce Becker

Executive Assistant (part-time) – Barb Geier

Web Editor (part-time) – Dariush Akhavan

Director of Development (part-time) – Dawn Thomsen

Elected leadership to guide and bring relevant vision to our organization are:

President – Susan Zemlin, Blaine High School

Vice President – Brian Stubbs, Brainerd High School

President-Elect – Paula Holmberg, Minnetonka High School

Secretary – Gillian Teoh-Berbee, Lake Middle School, Woodbury

Central District Chair – Nate Raabe, Dassel Cokato Public Schools

Metro East District Chair – Chad Garrels, Mahtomedi High School

Metro West District Chair – Jeff Dahl, Wayzata High School

Northeast District Chair – Jerome Upton, Duluth East High School

Northwest District Chair – Michael Culloton, Concordia College

Southeast District Chair – Kristin Kivell, Faribault Middle School

Southwest District Chair – Seana Graber, Luverne Public Schools

Appointed positions to the Board of Directors

Student Representative:  Jonathan Rydberg, St. Cloud State University

Star of the North Editor:  Ben Henschel, Blake Upper School

Appointed Star of the North Editorial Team

Ben Henschel, Managing Editor, Blake Upper School

John Guidry, Associate Editor, Delano High School

Garrett Lathe, Associate Editor, Central Minnesota Youth Chorale

Katelyn Larson, Associate Editor, Stillwater High School

Appointed Repertoire and Resource (R&R) Coordinators:

Allan Hawkins, Chair, North Central University

Matthew Culloton, Lifelong Choirs, The Singers

Dwight Jilek, Collegiate Activities, Bemidji State University

Diane Heaney, Repertoire Specific Choirs, Albert Lea High School

Caroline Swanson, Youth Choirs, Chaska MS West and Pioneer Ridge MS

Appointed Repertoire and Resource (R&R) Chairs

Marie Scholtz, Children’s Choirs, Meadowbrook Elementary School, Mpls

Reid Larsen, Middle Level Choirs, Cottage Grove Middle School

Michael McGaghie, College & University Choirs, Macalester College

Sarah Cohen, SSAA Choirs, College of St. Scholastica

Erynn Millard, Contemporary Commercial (Show Choir), MN State University-Moorhead

Matthew Culloton, Minnesota Composers, The Singers

Jennifer Parker, Jazz Choirs, McNally Smith College of Music

Brad Miller, Youth and Student Activities, University of Minnesota-Morris

Gene Peterson, TTBB Choirs, Bethel University

Tim Sawyer, Community Choirs, Two Rivers Chorale

Randy Schafer, High School Choirs, Eagan High School

Carole Whitney, Ethnic Choirs, Como Park High School

(vacant), Music in Worship Chair

Appointed State Honor Choir Co-Chairs

(6 honor choirs with over 2400 student auditions and 835 students selected)

4-5-6 Boys’ Co-Chairs – Ben Henschel and Kelly Newell

4-5-6 Girls’ Co-Chairs – Zan Thrasher and Jennifer Hazen

7-8 TTB Co-Chairs – Chris Larson and Michael Skaar

7-8 SSA Co-Chairs – Megan Cox and Katie Irvin

9-10 SSAA Co-Chairs – Jami Lercher and Laura Odden

9-10 SATB Co-Chairs – Kyle Eastman and Sarah Gilbertson

36 audition screeners (anonymous) each academic year

Appointed Coordinators of Special Projects

David Mennicke – Choral Arts Finale

Michael Walsh – State SSAA & TTBB Choral Festival

Steven Albaugh – 20/20 @ 2020

Appointed 20/20 Task Force Members in addition to Board Members and R&R Coordinators/Chairs

Angela Broeker, University of St. Thomas

Lawrence Burnett, Carleton College

Alex Jacques

Karla Miller, North Hennepin Community College

Sean Vogt, St. Paul Cathedral and Apollo Club

Steven Boehlke, Past President

Andre Heywood, St. John’s University and Boy Choir

Judy Sagen, Past President

Michael Smith, Past President

Appointed FMC Endowment Fund Committee Members

Mary Kay Geston, Chair

Bruce Phelps, Chair-Elect

Jan Gilbertson, Past Chair

Melanie Kjellberg, Secretary

Lawrence Burnett

Dan Digre

Kathryn Larson

Nancy Grundahl

Karla Miller

Jon Kietzer

Robert Johnson

Mark Nelson

Axel Theimer

Susan Zemlin, ACDA-MN President

Dawn Thomsen, Director of Development

Bruce Becker,  Executive Director

ACDA-MN Commissioning Task Force

Bryan Blessing, Coordinator

Craig Carnahan

Matthew Culloton

Jocelyn Hagen

Karen Lutgen

Ben Riggs

Tim Takach

Elizabeth Shepley

Ann Schrooten

Jake Runestad

Bruce Becker

FMC Scholarship

Dollars awarded since 1997:  $197,795

Number of FMC Scholarships since 1997:

Summer Dialogue:  152

Summer Dialogue Student Conductor: 37

Graduate Study:  54

Division and National Conference:  63

World Symposium on Choral Music:  5

Honor Choir:  7

Total Scholarship Awards:  318

Taking inventory is a good and necessary thing to do from time to time, and as a result of writing this article, I am reminded once again of the extraordinary level of leadership and dedication of our membership both past, current and future.  I am also intimately aware of the enormous magnitude of what our organization offers its members as we together live out our mission to inspire and support a community of choral musicians in our state!

That’s all for now…..