About ACDA

Founded
Founded in 1959, the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) is a nonprofit music- education organization whose mission is to inspire excellence and nurture lifelong involvement in choral music for everyone through education, performance, composition and advocacy.

Membership
ACDA membership consists of choral directors who represent more than one million singers across the United States. Our IL-ACDA membership is comprised of conductors, musicians, and singers who span from all facets of life. These conductors support the develoment of singers and teach choral music in both the public and private sectors. From professional choirs, faith-based choirs, community choruses, children, youth programs to educational settings; from kindergarten through senior high school, colleges and university. These leaders conduct a variety of choral groups, including children’s choirs, treble and tenor/bass choruses, junior and senior high school choirs, college and university choruses, ethnic and multicultural choirs, vocal jazz ensembles, show choirs, a cappella ensembles, and symphony choruses. Membership is established by submitting a membership application and annual dues.

Organizational Structure
ACDA is divided into five regions as well as fifty state chapters, each with its own conferences, newsletters, festivals, clinics, and workshops. Whether at the National, Regional, or State level, ACDA is structured so that its members can easily involve themselves in the organization’s activities.

Conferences
ACDA offers conferences at the State, Division, and National levels. National conferences are offered in February or March of odd-numbered years; the five Regional conferences take place in February and March of even-numbered years. Through concert performances by accomplished choirs, educational clinics by leading experts, and exhibits by music-industry representatives, ACDA offers its members a diverse and practical forum in which to develop their skills and professional knowledge. Conferences offer exceptional opportunities for conductors to connect and share knowledge, techniques and literature as well as a common collegiality throughout the profession.

Choral Journal
The official publication of the American Choral Directors Association is Choral Journal. This national publication, issued monthly, contains articles and columns of a scholarly and practical nature in addition to reviews of newly released CD recordings, books, and printed music. Choral Journal is a benefit of membership in the American Choral Directors Association. Subscriptions are available to libraries. Advertising space is available as well

Committees
ACDA has numerous national committees engaged in advancing the choral profession in its many facets. The committees specialize in the array of facets important to the choral profession helping each member to grow in skill and understanding, providing specific research and advocacy in each element.

Repertoire and Resources
ACDA provides valuable information for its members through the Repertoire and Resources (R&R) Committees. Each R&R area dedicates itself to assist conductors in finding quality repertoire and valuable scholarship and techniques resources dedicated to that choral genre. This national structure is replicated in every Division and State chapter through the organization. All ACDA members will have R&R leaders at local, regional and national levels.

Research and Publications Committee
ACDA is committed to the field of research as applied to choral music and publishes monographs and a composer series in both traditional and digital formats. The committee therefore manages several ongoing projects that both support and generate research and publications.

Publications
In addition to the Choral Journal, ACDA has several additional publications such as regional and state newsletters, the monograph series and ChorTeach, an online publication for music educators, division newsletters, state newsletters, and the monograph series. In 2012, ACDA became the publisher of the International Journal of Research in Choral Singing (IJRCS). The Association also maintains dozens of internet sites providing up-to-the minute information to its members, including a Facebook page, a Facebook group, a YouTube site with several hundred videos, and ACDA’s professional networking site, ChoralNet. All of these publications are intended to educate and inform the members of the Association.