2024 DATES TBA
July 11 – 13, 2023 / 12 – 3 PM
Virtual – Zoom
Music educators from across the U.S. and beyond are invited to join us for the 4th annual Music Educators Conference including three days of thought provoking and timely topics curated for Music Educators!
Conference Registration is FREE.
Open to K-12 Music Educators.
Questions?
info@natkingcolegenhope.org or 561.213.8209
2023 Schedule
Welcome each day – Edrick Rhodes
Director of Curriculum and Administration – The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Tuesday, July 11 – 3 sessions
- 12:00 noon EST – Keynote – Susan Magsamen, Founder and Executive Director International Arts + Mind Lab, Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us
- 1:00 pm EST – Ramon Cardenas, Doctoral Student Florida State University, Trauma-Informed Pedagogy In Music Education (Music Special Education)
- 2:00 pm EST – Krystal Williams, Music Education Professor and Internship Supervisor University of Maryland Baltimore County, BREAKING UP with BURNOUT: A Journey to Work-Life Balance
Wednesday, July 12 – 3 sessions
- 12:00 noon EST – Aaron Bryan, Director of Arts Education Office of the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools, Music Ed for ALL: Designing to the Edges
- 1:00 pm EST – Renee Gilliland, Ph.D., Philharmonia Orchestra Conductor and Instructor of Music Education at the University of Colorado Boulder, Bringing Diverse Orchestral Repertoire to the Stage
- 2:00 pm EST – Ryan Gardner, Teacher, Frank C. Martin International K-8 Academy and Curriculum Support Specialist, Miami-Dade County Public Schools Office of Visual and Performing Arts, Using Popular Music to Teach Social and Emotional Learning
Thursday, July 13 – 3 sessions
- 12:00 noon EST – Karel Butz, Retired Orchestra Director, Violinist, and Composer. Houston, TX, Programming perspectives from a retired Orchestra Director and current Composer
- 1:00 pm EST – Chandler L. Wilson, Ph.D., Florida State University Assistant Director of Athletic Bands/Assistant Professor of Music Education, ABC’s for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Year Band Directors
- 2:00 pm EST – Harvey Lockhart, Founder, Executive and Artistic Director, HEAL Center for the Arts, Jazz is Accessible
Susan Magsamen, Keynote Speaker
Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us
Susan Magsamen is the founder and executive director of the International Arts + Mind Lab (IAM Lab), Center for Applied Neuroaesthetics, a pioneering initiative from the Pedersen Brain Science Institute at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her body of work lies at the intersection of brain sciences and the arts — and how our unique response to aesthetic experiences can amplify human potential.
Magsamen is the author of the Impact Thinking model, an evidence-based research approach to accelerate how we use the arts to solve problems in health, well-being, and learning. In addition to her role at IAM Lab, she is an assistant professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins and serves as co-director of the NeuroArts Blueprint initiative in partnership with the Aspen Institute.
Susan’s newest book with Random House is Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us, written with Ivy Ross, Vice President of Design for Hardware at Google. It is a journey through the science of neuroaesthetics that offers proof of how our brains and bodies are transformed when we participate in the arts and aesthetic experiences, and how this knowledge can improve our physical and mental health, help us learn and flourish, and build stronger communities.

Edrick Rhodes, Conference Facilitator
Director of Curriculum and Administration – The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Timolin Cole-Augustus
& Casey Cole-Ray
NKCGH Co-Founders

Aaron Bryan
Director of Arts Education Office
Fresno County Superintendent of Schools

Karel Butz
Retired Orchestra Director, Violinist, and Composer

Ramon Cardenas
Doctoral Student
Florida State University

Ryan Gardner
Teacher
Frank C. Martin International K-8 Academy and Curriculum Support Specialist, Miami-Dade County Public Schools Office of Visual and Performing Arts

Renee Gilliland, Ph.D.
Philharmonia Orchestra Conductor and Instructor of Music Education
University of Colorado Boulder

Harvey Lockhart
Founder, Executive and Artistic Director
HEAL Center for the Arts

Krystal Williams
Music Education Professor and Internship Supervisor
University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Chandler L. Wilson, Ph.D.
Assistant Director of Athletic Bands/Assistant Professor of Music Education
Florida State University
