Supporting music educators and students across Maine
Maine Music Educators Association
Maine Music Educators Association

Strategic Plan

2026-2028

Our mission and vision

Mission
To advance, advocate for, and expand access to music education in Maine.
Vision
MMEA is a responsive association where all people feel heard, seen, and connected through their lifelong musical experiences.

Strategic Direction

Four directions guide the work of the association. Each one lists the specific steps MMEA is taking to reach it.

Governance

Ensure data driven governance practices and decision making to advance and maintain the association we serve.

  1. Attain and maintain event and director and officer insurance for MMEA and districts. Align and maintain financial documents and policies for MMEA and all districts. Create a timeline and procedure for audit of MMEA finances.
  2. Review and revamp the handbook organization. Consider a table of contents and governance section in conjunction with a policy document.
  3. Research, develop and implement self evaluation models to provide support for all board members. Establish a timeline for annual implementation and review of evaluations. Define roles and determine who will oversee this.
  4. Create a separate policies document and guidebooks for all board positions, events to streamline MMEA Handbook.
  5. Seek and compare current governance practices with other MEA’s of similar size and organizational structure.

Membership

Engage music educators in Maine.

  1. Develop and maintain a statewide directory of music educators.
  2. Invite ALL music educators to Fall Meeting.
  3. Continue to facilitate communication with all music teachers.
  4. Coordinate connections for new teachers and teachers in new positions. Communicate with geographically isolated teachers and pk-5 general music teachers.
  5. Develop capacity for scholarship opportunities and processes for awarding scholarships to members and their students to attend MMEA / NAfME events.
  6. Create communications to promote the benefits of membership. (i.e. flyer, email).
  7. Transform the Motif to a newsletter format.

Advocacy

Inform, engage and activate the public, policymakers, education leaders, and educators to support music as an integral and core component of a comprehensive and balanced education accessible to all students (adapted by NAfME Strategic Plan.)

  1. Develop and maintain a voice and working partnership at the state level through the Department of Education.
  2. Promote Advocacy Events in collaboration with other statewide arts organizations.
  3. Support the advocacy chair to serve on the NAfME Advocacy Leadership Force (ALF) and share information with membership.
  4. Promote the needs and opportunities for music educators and students, create conference sessions for music educators, establish administrative support for teacher membership to MMEA.
  5. Continue to partner with the Maine Principals Association.
  6. Encourage music educators to share their work, knowledge, and experiences with administration and educational professionals.
  7. Promote a list of advocacy tools, personnel, and resources available for support of Music Educators in Maine.

Inclusion

Ensure practices that allow all members and students to have equal access to MMEA events and activities regardless of race, cultures, abilities, economic backgrounds, geographic locations, gender identities, and sexual orientations.

  1. Expand the library of webinars focusing on All-State prep particularly instrumental examples. Encourage diversity in examples.
  2. Advocate for the use of available local, state and/or federal monies to support music education. Use NAfME resources.
  3. Establish a process for DEIA committee selection to ensure broad representation.
  4. Establish a decision-making framework that is DEIA-centric.
  5. Align DEIA structure with NAfME.
  6. Continue to offer diversity, equity, and inclusion-focused PD at conference.
  7. Research to see who is accessing MMEA events, who may be missing and what barriers exist.
  8. Engage with the music community at large including those outside of the primary, secondary, and post secondary scope.
  9. Continue to support a repertoire and clinician approval system that promotes inclusion and representation of Maine’s diverse youth in all of their intersectional identities.
  10. Begin taking action steps on implementing a Land Acknowledgement for MMEA events.