Pride Bands board members Marek Szeszycki and Patrice Mustaafaa were excited to introduce the Pride Bands Alliance Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Access and Belonging (DEIAB) Playbook! They presented a sneak peek of our first DEIAB Playbook, where there are examples of the resources to progress and contribute to everyone’s home band Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives.

Strategic planning is one of the most important factors in keeping a nonprofit moving forward and aligned to its mission. It can be easy for organizations to drift from their intended goals and stagnant in their development. In this session, Pride Band board members and leaders learned about a top-down approach to strategic planning, which allow organizations to work towards expansion of their programming and capacity as presented by Triangle Pride Artistic Director Alex Alberti

Sometime’s there’s that one spot in your music that just seems insurmountable. Desert Overture Artistic Director Scott Helms designed this workshop to give some solid techniques that can be used to approach those tough passages during practice, so everyone can nail them in band! And, if it’s just not going to happen, participants learned ways that they can simplify that passage so it’s within their ability to play, but won’t detract from the band’s performance.

As community music ensembles, our organizations are rooted in the idea of community and ongoing learning through musicianship. There is power in what we do together and the way we engage with the people in our communities. Music is the perfect means to build connections, be invested and integral part of our communities, and foster lifelong learning in our members and beyond. Anne Fennell, president of the California Music Educators Association, presented this session devoted to building community and connections and creating meaningful learning experiences for all.