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…..