Save the Music Launches Professional Development Series for Music Educators Nationwide

New York, New York – September 8, 2021 – As teachers and students return to music classrooms nationwide, Save The Music Foundation is launching a free, nationwide professional development program for music teachers – geared toward recognizing the social and emotional impacts of the pandemic on students and actively building student resilience via the music classroom.

Through a combination of in-person and web-based sessions, Save The Music has assembled the leading experts in social-emotional and trauma-informed approaches to music education and is connecting them with the Save The Music network of thousands of music educators across the country.

Starting in September, Save The Music and Center for Arts Education and Social-Emotionall Learning (ArtsEdSEL) will offer monthly webinars focused on Student Empowerment Through Social-Emotional Learning in Music Education. The webinars are free to attend and tailored to music educators looking to utilize their classroom to help prepare students for the tests of life. Webinars are also relevant for student musicians, parents and families, as well as music education advocates.

When social emotional learning (SEL) is embedded into music education, students learn the skills that will help them confront and navigate life’s complexities long after they leave the music classroom. Key SEL competencies include self and social awareness, self-management, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. These webinars will help music teachers better understand how to elevate the lived experience, voices, and cultural assets of their students through the development of exemplary music education practices and approaches.

Henry Donahue, Executive Director of Save The Music states, “As students, teachers, and parents, we have all been through a very challenging time. We also know that music is an incredibly powerful way to renew our connections to our schools and communities. Expanding the adoption of arts-based social and emotional learning invests wisely in well-being, rather than simply treating symptoms or reacting to crises. As we come together to address the trauma experienced by young people in our partner communities, we want to get the best practitioners in this field together with teachers – and these powerful teaching methods into the music classroom.“

This work was made possible through the support of KKR Covid Response Fund, a sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

# # #

About Save The Music Foundation

Save The Music Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that helps students, schools, and communities reach their full potential through the power of making music. Founded in 1997, Save The Music partners with school districts and raises funds to restore music programs in public schools. Since its inception, the organization has donated over $60 million worth of new musical instruments, equipment, and technology to 2,201 schools in 277 school districts around the country–impacting the lives of hundreds of thousands of students. Learn more about Save The Music and its efforts at www.savethemusic.org.

About the Center for Arts Education
and Social-Emotional Learning

The Center for Arts Education and Social Emotional Learning (ArtsEdSEL) is dedicated to illuminating the intersection between arts education and social-emotional learning to facilitate the embedded, intentional, and sustained application of SEL-informed arts education. Learn more about ArtsEdSEL at https://artsedsel.org/. ArtsEdSEL is a program of Arts Ed NJ. Learn more about Arts ED NJ at https://www.artsednj.org/.