Best Communities for Music Education
Celebrate Your District or School With National Recognition
The Best Communities for Music Education (BCME) Award is a signature program of The NAMM Foundation that recognizes and celebrates school districts and schools for their support and commitment to music education and their efforts to ensure access to music for all students as part of a well-rounded education. Throughout the program's 25 years, the foundation has recognized 900 school districts and schools, combined, in 43 states.
The schools and communities recognized by the Best Communities for Music Education demonstrate a commitment to ensuring music learning opportunities are available for every student and provide an example for other communities to follow. The impact of The NAMM Foundation's Best Communities for Music Education award is unique and different for each recipient, although all recipients report the sense of pride, joy and respect it brings to their communities.
Award Winner Announcement in Early April!
Why Participate
- National recognition
- Community recognition and community pride
- Increased visibility of music education in your district, school, and community
- Program validation of your school or district's support for music education
- Program auditing tool for evaluating your music program
Eligibility
- School districts in the U.S. with a K-12 music education program
- Individual schools, public, private, charter, and parochial, in the U.S. with a music education program
- One application per school or district
- All surveys must be submitted by the deadline
There are two awards available. You may only apply for one award:
- The Best Communities for Music Education (BCME) award: this award is for school districts
- The SupportMusic Merit Award (SMMA): this award is for an individual school (charter, parochial, private) that serves students at various grade levels.
Start Your Application
The following information is required to fill out the survey. Once you collect the necessary data, the survey process will take approximately 30-45 minutes to complete. We encourage you to print out a copy of the survey PDF before starting the online process.
- Student demographics
- Teacher/student ratio
- Music education participation rates
- Music education and/or fine arts requirements for graduation or as required by the curriculum
- knowledge of music education electives
- Teacher qualifications
- Standards for assessing music education
- Music facilities
- Budget