.jpg)
As we move into the second half of the 2017 – 2020 term, the Council is active in serving our membership and preparing information and resources for the profession. One focus is on keeping the WFMT website active with information about the work of our eight Commissions, new blogs from the Regional Liaisons and a regularly updated section for students.
We welcome Marinella Maggiori as new Regional Liaison for Europe and thank Elide Scarlata for her work since July 2017. Council members have been busy presenting at a variety of international conferences and promoting the celebration of World Music Therapy Day and the upcoming World Congress of Music Therapy.
16th World Congress of Music Therapy, South Africa 7th – 11th July, 2020
We hope you will join us for “The Polyrhythms of Music Therapy”. The Call for Papers is open until April 29, 2019 so if you have not yet submitted an abstract, consider doing it. This will be the first World Congress of Music Therapy to be hosted in the beautiful country of South Africa and it will be a wonderful opportunity for shared learning, dialogue and collaboration through our diversity as a profession.
We know that World Congress attendance can be costly, so we have a scholarship scheme.
Student scholarships
The WFMT will award 10 student scholarships to attend the WCMT 2020 in South Africa.
- Applications: May 1-July 31, 2019
- Review of applications: August, 2019
- Final decision: September 10, 2019
- Send letters to applicants: September 25, 2019 to begin making travel plans
Professional scholarships
The WFMT will also award 10 professional scholarships to assist in covering the expenses of professional music therapists to attend the WCMT 2020.
- Applications: June 1-December 1, 2019
- Review of applications: December 5-December 31, 2019
- Final decision: January 10, 2020
- Send letters to applicants: January 20, 2020
Award Nominations 2020
Every three years at the World Congress, the WFMT presents awards for excellence in four categories:
- Research/Special Projects
- Advocate of Music Therapy
- Service (to the work of the WFMT)
- Clinical Impact
If you are a WFMT Member (either as an Individual or as part of a Member Association) one of the benefits is that you can nominate a colleague for an award in the above categories. The deadline is 31st July and you can find the criteria and nomination form here.
We are reviewing our Member Benefits and will soon publish a chart to highlight the value of being part of this global organization. Please find more information and membership application forms here https://www.wfmt.info/wfmt-membership/membership-application/
I encourage you to check out the rest of this website and if you run a music therapy association, you may want to share www.wfmt.info with your professional and student members. Many thanks to our Secretary Dr. Anita Swanson for her work on the website along with Executive Assistant, Kumi Sato and volunteer, Michelle Hsiao-Jung Yeh.
World Music Therapy Day (WMTD)
March 1st was #WorldMusicTherapyDay. All WFMT Members have just received our April Monthly Buzz with detailed information about this huge global celebration. If you are involved with a professional association which is not yet a member of WFMT, do encourage them to join. There are links to our Organizational Members’ websites here and on the WMTD webpage you can find links and media relating to the event.
Find us on social media
WFMT Education & Training Commission
This commission is led by Dr Sumathy Sundar who has been working with her team to produce a new report. Please, visit the Education & Training Commission section of this website where you will find updated information on the minimum standards required for clinical practice in 6 regions of WFMT. This is a project the commission plans to complete this year by adding the information from the two remaining regions.
WFMT at International Conferences
Our Council members present regularly at international conferences and will continue to do so to raise awareness of the organization and its multiple activities to support the development of the music therapy profession around the world.
Since July 2018, the WFMT has participated in the following conferences and events:
- Hong Kong Music Therapy conference (Aug. 2018)
- First Mediterranean Music Therapy Meeting. Padua, Italy (Sept. 2018)
- “Snapshot of a Music Therapist and Researcher”. University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario (Oct. 2018)
- II Congress on Mental Health. Moscow (Oct. 2018)
- "Interdisciplinary contexts of contemporary pedagogy and psychology". Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Poland (Oct. 2018)
- International Music Therapy Conference, Bahçeşehir University, Turkey (Nov. 2018)
- International Conference "Opoczyński Dzień Muzykoterapii". Centrum Edukacji i Rozwoju im. John Paul II. Opoczno, Poland (Nov. 2018)
- American Music Therapy Association Conference, Dallas, TX. (Nov. 2018)
- Online Conference for Music Therapy (Feb. 2019)
WFMT Publications: Music Therapy Today (MTT)
Dr Annie Heiderscheit is the WFMT Commissioner for Publications. For more information about the objectives of the commission and the team involved, see the Publications Commission page.
Music Therapy Today is a peer reviewed Journal published every year and the current issue can be read online, free of charge. Click on the image to read the journal, which includes the Conference Proceedings from the 15th World Congress of Music Therapy held in Tsukuba, Japan.
For 2019, Music Therapy Today will focus on music therapy in trauma care and we are pleased to announce that the Guest Editor is Dr Gene Ann Behrens.
