As I craft my first message to the WFMT global community, I want to say what an honour and privilege it has been to be nominated, and now elected, to serve the WFMT as President for the next three years. During the term that just passed, I was fortunate to work with WFMT Officers, Commissioners, Regional Liaisons, members, students, therapists, and researchers from around the globe in advancing clinical practices, internship opportunities, and music resources on the website. These resources include the Folk Music Project I began, the addition of pop music to the International Library of Music, and the International Internship Registry.The WFMT is an amazing organization. At the recent congress in Krems and Vienna, Austria, we had our WFMT Annual Meeting with the Council, and the new incoming council met to assess the work done in the past term and to determine next steps. I look forward to implementing and moving ahead with the Strategic Plan and priorities we have solidified. The Strategic Plan that will guide the WFMT Council during the next three years has been carefully developed with over 18 months of consultation with WFMT members. This analysis has resulted in a number of goals and objectives constructed to move the organization ahead. I want to thank the outgoing Public Relations Commission Chair, Maïté Barbé for her role in leading the Strategic Planning work group to complete this vision for our Federation. To view this document, please visit the WFMT Documents section of the WFMT Publication Center.On behalf of the WFMT, I want to thank all who have served the Federation in the past term and to welcome our new Council members and Commission committee members. As we update the website for the month of August, please view the Commission Chairs’ pages to see all that is planned in the upcoming term. If you have feedback, questions, or comments, please feel free to contact me or the respective Council members.I feel so enriched by the wonderful experience I have had at the recent World Congress. I do not know where to begin in thanking the Congress organizing team, led by Dr. Gerhard Tucek, for their outstanding organization of the amazing learning, cultural, musical, and networking event! Congratulations to all WFMT Student Scholarship Award recipients: Annabelle Brault (Canada), Sarah Carney (USA), Dawn Chik (USA), Laura Cribb (USA), Talia Girton (USA), Monica Subiantoro (UK), and Claudia Zindel (Germany). In addition, congratulations to all WFMT Award Winners: Ruth Bright (Lifetime Membership Award), Dr. Jayne Standley (Research and Special Projects Award), Dr. Amelia Oldfield (Clinical Impact Award), Dr. Sumathy Sundar (Advocate of Music Therapy Award), and Dr. Petra Kern (Service Award).The WFMT is an organization that seeks to bring music therapists and all those interested in the discipline of music therapy together through various avenues. The three strongest areas the WFMT has for disseminating knowledge formally are through the WFMT website (www.wfmt.info), which has a wealth of free resources for all who visit the pages; the WFMT journal Music Therapy Today, which is targeted as a key area upon which the WFMT will build in the next three years; and the World Congresses of Music Therapy, which are held every three years.If you have not yet read the recent conference proceedings from 2014, I encourage you to read them by visiting this link. Thank you to Dr. Jörg Fachner and Dr. Petra Kern, along with the Music Therapy Today review board members for their work in compiling this amazing document. I am excited to announce that the 2017 World Congress of Music Therapy will take place in Tsukuba, Japan. So start dreaming of your plans to attend.The WFMT brings together persons around the globe to share, learn, collaborate, and talk about music therapy. This is a true strength that needs to continue to be fostered. We need all WFMT members to reach out and share their learning, their knowledge, and the work of the WFMT.So in closing I want to say, I look forward to the next three years working alongside the new WFMT Council and all of our members.Amy Clements-Cortes, PhD, MT-BC, MTAFellow of the Association for Music and ImageryPresident, WFMT
.jpg)
