PMEA Cancels All In-Person Music Events For 2020-21 School Year

PENNSYLVANIA — There will be no in-person music events during the 2020-21 school year over coronavirus concerns, the Pennsylvania Music Education Association announced late Thursday. The decision comes as schools around the state grapple with reopening plans and consider moving ahead with fall sports.

The PMEA cancellation means that there will be no district, region, or All-State festivals this school year, and leaves a gaping hole for countless students whose music is a vital part of their education and school experience.

"While we value the music and educational experiences our fests, festivals and Music Performance Assessments (MPAs) provide our students, we have to first and foremost acknowledge the health and safety of our members, students and their families," Phil Stattel, the president of PMEA, said in announcing the decision.

The PMEA said that bringing together students from multiple schools from around the commonwealth posed too great a risk for coronavirus transmission.

The Association added they are working to find some way to offer alternative opportunities throughout the year. A virtual conference and virtual All-State event have been planned for the spring, and PMEA is working with individual districts to help them organize their own virtual events if they are interested, as well.

"We are working hard to help make this year as musical as can be within the confines in which we find ourselves," Stattel said. "PMEA has taken the lead in communicating with other arts and education associations as well as distributing information and assistance to its members in a variety of ways including numerous webinar series and the 2020 PMEA Virtual Summer Conference."

Meanwhile, the PIAA recently urged Gov. Wolf to allow fall sports to take place, a day after he said that no organized sports should be held in the state until 2021.

Many individual schools had canceled all sports, music events, and other extracurricular activities on their own, independent of the determinations of statewide bodies.