Sigma Alpha Iota

sai-national.org • Summer 2023 7 Sesame Street, Hard Rock Café, and VH1's Save the Music Foundation. For more information on schedule, location details, tickets, and sponsorship opportunities, visit www.musiccouncil.org or contact NMC Director David Sanders at: sandersd@montclair.edu. Proceeds from the event support the National Music Council's music education advocacy efforts. The National Music Council The National Music Council The NMC [an affiliate of Sigma Alpha Iota] is celebrating its 82nd year as a forum for the free discussion of this country's national music affairs and challenges. Founded in 1940 to act as a clearinghouse for the joint opinion and decision of its members and to work to strengthen the importance of music in our lives and culture, the Council's initial membership of 13 has grown to almost 50 national music organizations, encompassing every important form of professional and commercial musical activity. Through the cooperative work of its member organizations, the National Music Council promotes and supports music and music education as an integral part of the curricula in the schools of our nation and in the lives of its citizens. The Council provides for the exchange of information and coordination of efforts among its member organizations and speaks with one voice for the music community whenever an authoritative expression of opinion is desirable. In 2023, the National Music Council produced a landmark Symposium addressing the recent spike in political violence against songwriters, composers, and music performers throughout the world. The webcast "Protecting Free Speech in the Global Music Landscape" premiered on Music Freedom Day and was produced in cooperation with the International Music Council. It featured discussions and interviews with many of the world's leading experts and activists on free speech issues as they pertain to the music and music education communities. Panel topics included Movements to Protect Free Speech in Music, Trends in Politically-based Censorship of the Musical Arts, and The History of Music's Political Influence and of Governmental Attempts to Harness, Control, and Silence It. A compendium briefing paper tracing the history of global music repression was prepared by NMC Chair Charles J. Sanders, containing dozens of links to musical sources, and providing music community members with the opportunity to incorporate the lessons of the past into their ideas for forging a less dangerous future for songwriters, composers, recording artists and performers. The symposium and briefing paper are currently viewable on the NMC website. For more information, visit www.musiccouncil.org Music Notes SAI Honorary Member Gloria Estefan became the first Hispanic woman inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame on June 15, 2023 at the 52nd Annual Induction and Awards Gala held in New York City. She was honored alongside songwriters Sade Adu p/k/a Sade, Glen Ballard, Calvin Broadus Jr. p/k/a Snoop Dogg, Jeff Lynne, Teddy Riley, and Liz Rose. Estefan is a Grammy award-winning singer, actress, songwriter, children's book author, philanthropist, and humanitarian. Her numerous international hits include the songs Anything For You, Don't Wanna Lose You, Rhythm Is Gonna Get You, Turn The Beat Around, and Let's Get Loud. She is an eight-time Grammy Award winner, a 2015 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, and has been named one of the Top 100 greatest artists of all time by both VH1 and Billboard. In addition, Estefan has been awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, was a Kennedy Center Honors recipient in 2017 for her contributions to American cultural life, won an MTV Video Music Award, and was honored with the American Music Award for Lifetime Achievement. Estefan is also the founder of the Gloria Estefan Foundation, an organization that supports charitable programs for disadvantaged children and offers opportunities for education and support. The Foundation's work includes support of spinal cord research through the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. During her speech at the ceremony, Estefan said, "I've been incredibly blessed with some pretty cool honors, but I have to admit this is a BIG one. And to be counted among this incredible group of inductees — who I so admire and am a HUGE fan of, each and every one — makes this honor that much more special." She thanked the Songwriter's Hall of Fame "for fulfilling a dream that I hadn't even dared to dream." Gloria Estefan Honored for Songwriting Learn more at: https://www.songhall.org/ https://gloriaestefan.com/

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