Dear IAMM members,
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is L. Samuel Gracida, I am originally from Mexico but I am currently living in Heidelberg, Germany, where I am about to finish my MA in Music Therapy. It is my great honor to serve as the new Chair of the Communications and Outreach Committee of the IAMM. This is such a great team and I cannot wait to see where the IAMM goes from here! In case you are curious, I come from a background mainly in music till a few years ago when I got interested in music therapy. My main instrument is guitar and I have been involved in non-profit work for a long time, managing digital communications, marketing, website development, graphic design, and more.
More recently I started working with a non-profit organization located in Columbus, Ohio called Sam’s Fans. Sam’s Fans supports music and art therapy for seriously ill children and their families. Through my involvement with this organization I got to experience the amazing world of music therapy and this led me to make the decision to study to become a music therapist myself! So here I am, about to complete my program at SRH University in Heidelberg in the next few months.
I am honored to serve now on the Board of Directors and to chair the Committee on Communications and Outreach. While I am young and new to the nascent but wonderful profession of music therapy, I am eager to learn and to use my experiences in other fields such as marketing and communications to support the endeavors of the IAMM. I also welcome the opportunity to collaborate closely with professionals from other fields who are already using music in their practice or who want to start doing so. It is my pleasure to share with you that we are already working hard to expand the offerings from the IAMM and how we will communicate these with you.
Aside from these newsletters, we expect to share new content through our website and social media channels. I have a great team of people who have joined the Communications and Outreach Committee.
If you have comments, ideas, if you want to join a Committee, or even if you just want to say hi, you can reach me at sgracida@iammonline.com.
I am looking forward to this opportunity and I cannot wait to meet you!
Samuel Gracida
