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I am so honoured to be serving the WFMT as President this term as we prepare in 2015 to celebrate 30 years as an organization promoting music therapy worldwide. The WFMT was formally established in Genoa, Italy in 1985, born out of a common vision among international music therapists to promote the profession globally. Among the ten founding members were Rolando Benenzon (Argentina), Giovanna Mutti (Italy), Jacques Jost (France), Barbara Hesser (USA), Amelia Oldfield (UK), Ruth Bright (Australia), Heinrich Otto Moll (Germany), Rafael Colon (Puerto Rico), Clementina Nastari (Brazil), and Tadeusz Natanson (Poland). To learn more on how the WFMT has developed over the past years, please click here and scroll to the middle of the page to view a dynamic video. The “About WFMT” page of the website also contains documents on the history of the organization!It seems timely to take a moment to reflect and extend appreciation to the wonderful Presidents the WFMT has been fortunate to have serve on the Council. Their work and vision with their respective Council officers, committee members and volunteers has helped to spread the knowledge of music therapy as a discipline to the world stage. On behalf of all music therapists, I want to thank these individuals for their leadership: Rolando Benenzon (1985-1990); Ruth Bright (1990-1993); Cheryl Dileo (1993-1996); Tony Wigram (1996-1999); Denise Grocke (1999-2002); Suzanne Hanser (2002-2005); Gabriela Wagner (2005-2008); Petra Kern (2008-2011); Byungchuel Choi (2011-2012); & Annie Heiderscheit (2013-2014).In 2015, there will be a regular edition of the WFMT online journal, Music Therapy Today, along with a Special Edition to commemorate our 30 year Anniversary! The WFMT Council is also working on a number of other special initiatives to highlight this important year of celebration, so be sure to look for more updates in future President Presents blogs, in Council member updates on the websites, and on our social media accounts.As the New Year is just beginning, and the WFMT is starting its very special anniversary year, I encourage you to consider joining the WFMT by becoming an individual member. To learn more on membership, click here.
Warm Regards from Canada,Amy Clements-Cortes, PhD, MT-BC, MTAFellow of the Association for Music and ImageryPresident, WFMT
