2024 DSA General Meeting

Committee Reports

Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Dawn Pratson, chair

The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee has met monthly during the last year. Our activities include maintaining a resource list, holding monthly “conversations on undoing racism” (which are open to all members, their friends and associates), and we also sponsored our first online event, “How to Talk with Children about Race” with Isabel Cruz.

Finance

Mira Larson, treasurer

The Finance Committee worked to formalize many of our processes, including budget amendments, scholarship disbursement, and financial reporting. This committee also navigated transitioning account signatories with the departure of Kent Cleland (former treasurer) and Mira Larson (current treasurer).

Governance

Lori Forden, interim chair

The Governance Committee met several times during the year to reflect on and propose amendments to our organizational bylaws. In the next year, we plan to review chapter bylaws to ensure clarity and consistency between chapters.

National Events

Gregory Ristow, chair

The National Events Committee met weekly to plan the National Conference. In the next year, we plan to reintroduce the Dalcroze Lab virtual workshops, which are available to Dalcrozians at any location.

Professional Development

Michael Joviala, chair

In the Professional Development Committee, we have focused most of our energy into two areas: 1) building a database of activities for teaching children and 2) writing articles (in collaboration with the Publications Committee) for the magazine and blog. We have now completed a series of articles on Dalcroze teaching strategies and techniques as outlined in the DSA’s Teacher Training Manual, and are now turning our attention towards Dalcroze principles for coming issues of the magazine. Before authors write articles, they have an opportunity to lead discussions on their chosen topics. These have been fascinating and inspiring! We have also each contributed activities for the launch of the database for teaching children that will be launched in the coming year.

Council of Diplômés

Mary Dobrea-Grindahl, chair

The Council of Diplômés met regularly over the 2023–24 year. We worked on revisions to the Council of Diplômés Committee mandate, engaged in extensive discussions regarding DSA Scholarship eligibility and procedures, and communicated with outside organizations regarding the usage of the name Dalcroze. Our work watching T2 program exams (for pedagogical and philosophical purposes) and revising sections of the DSA website is ongoing and will continue in 2024–25.

Publications

Katie Couch, chair

The Publications Committee met regularly over the 2023–24 year. We worked on releasing new editions of Dalcroze Connections (volumes 8.1 and 8.2), bimonthly blog posts, newsletters, and revisions to the DSA website. We also merged with the Marketing committee in an effort to make greater strides in getting our content released on a larger scale. Our content includes long-form articles by Dalcroze experts, interactive blog posts with links and musical examples, and videos that demonstrate Dalcroze teaching.