Winter 2010 issue
CONFERENCE PLANNING REPORT
Nina Galerstein, MMEd, MT-BC
Vice President of Conference Planning
Our next regional conference, titled Pittsburgh – Inclined Toward Music Therapy, will be held on March 24-27, 2010. An exciting conference has been planned by the local co-chairs, Jessica Mull and Bob Miller. There is a pre-conference Institute organized by Ken Aigen, Motion and Feeling in Music: Applications of Musical Groove in Music Therapy. There are 11 CMTEs, and over 50 concurrent sessions including 7 research track sessions. There will be a very informative tri-state licensure session for those people facing this important issue. Mike Viega (VPCP-Elect) consulted with the students, and for the first time we are having a specific student track based on their specific requests (of course, all music therapists are invited to attend!). Deborah Benkovitz, President of MAR, has put together a very exciting plenary session titled The Harmony Of Collaboration, featuring members of the Pittsburgh Symphony and the work they do with Deborah at the Children’s Hospital. The conference also boasts some wonderful music – Joy Ike at Opening Session (she is a Nigerian Singer/Songwriter who mixes jazz, pop and neo-soul – best solo artist in a local poll for 2 years!), our own musicians for live Karaoke at the Dessert bar, and more of our wonderful music therapists performing at the Closing Session.
The very exciting news is that registration rates have been reduced this year, and registration will be primarily online. Early bird registration ends on February 19th.
We will once again be having a Silent Auction as a part of the Exhibits Spectacular Thursday evening. We are in need of donations of items for the Silent Auction, as well as for door prizes for conference attendees. Please email Susie Knechtel (suzsie@musictherapyhs.org) or Gina Iuliucci (ginaiuliucci@comcast.net) with a description of the item and the approximate retail by March 1st if you or your organization would like to donate an item.
Melissa King, our Regional Conference Coordinator, listened to everyone’s concerns about conference costs! We have a hotel, the Pittsburgh Radisson, that is charging only $92 a night for rooms! This hotel has many amenities, including an indoor pool, so check out their website! They also offer FREE shuttle service from the airport!
I would like to welcome Brigette Sutton to our group – she has taken on the new role of Regional Registration Chair and this is her first conference in this role. It’s great to have someone doing this job, and she will be working closely with local registration chair, Gretchen Chardos Benner.
We hope to see all of you in March - come join us for an educational and fun-filled experience in the City of Rivers and Bridges!
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