National Leaders Unite at 3rd Annual Performing Arts Education and Creative Industry Meeting

The NFHS and the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) jointly hosted the 3rd annual Performing Arts Education and Creative Industry Meeting on March 3-4 in Indianapolis.

The unique, yearly gathering provides a dynamic platform for collaborative discussions and networking opportunities for music leaders in the educational and creative industry spaces. This year’s meeting welcomed more than 60 music education and creative industry professionals representing 18 states and 58 state and national organizations.

The main theme of the 2025 meeting was “strength in unity,” with educators, CEOs, presidents, executive directors, and thought leaders from all areas of music engaged in the conversations.

When this meeting was introduced in 2023, the primary focus was to introduce all the different elements and organizations that impact the complex music ecosystem. Simply by being in the same room, sharing strengths, and recognizing gaps, a valuable partnership between arts education and the creative industry was born.

In 2024, after identifying some key needs in the space, all parties were able to work together to produce much-needed resources to ensure that music education can continue to thrive for years to come.

This year, as leaders monitor a rapidly changing landscape – not only in education but in technology and myriad other arenas – the theme of “strength in unity” emerged.

Meeting attendees concluded that if arts education is going to continue to thrive, members of the creative industry are invaluable partners who must contribute to conversations about curriculum and policy. Similarly, if the workforce that contributes to the creative industry is going to grow and strengthen, groups making critical decisions in the world of K-12 and higher education must continue to provide their perspectives.

“We’re all stronger when we work together. That is the single thing I think we get from this,” said Dr. James Weaver, NFHS director of performing arts and sports. “No matter how many ideas we come up with, we are always better when we are working together.”

Weaver, along with Carolyn Grant, director of market development at NAMM, led the two-day event at The Alexander hotel.

“We are actually parts of the same engine,” Grant said of the importance of the meeting. “If we work together and explore future opportunities together, we will make a much stronger music community, a much stronger education community, and a much stronger industry because we are all interconnected.”

Presentations during the meeting included:

• Building the Pipeline: Encouraging Future Educators – Mike Kamphuis (Conn Selmer), Bob Morrison (Quadrant Research) and Marcia Neel (Music Education Consultants and Yamaha)

• Practical Applications of Artificial Intelligence – James Weaver (NFHS)

• Panel Discussion: Policy and What it Means Going Forward – Annamarie Bollino (Prince William County Public Schools), Amanda Karhuse (NAfME), Claire Kreger-Boaz (NAMM) and Lynn Tuttle (ASTA)

• Establishing Community Partnerships to Enhance Music Programs – Chiho Feindler (Save the Music Foundation) and Laurie Fellenz (WSMA)

• Panel Discussion:  Building Skills for Music Industry Careers Beyond Performance – Heather Mansell (Yamaha), Bryan Powell (Music Will) and Jennifer Witt (Sweetwater)

• Cultivating Entrepreneurial Mindsets in Students – Jenna Day (Day Violins) and Shawna Rood (Mas y Mas Music Foundation)

For more information on the NFHS or NAMM, please click on the respective links. To access the pictures, presentations and discussion that took place at the meeting, please click here.