Chief Executive Officer

Organization

Community Music Center of Boston is an arts education nonprofit founded in 1910 with a mission to transform lives by providing equitable access to excellent music education and arts experiences. Originally established to provide lessons and classes to a wave of new American immigrants, CMCB has spent 116 years as a leader in connecting music education to social impact, responding to Boston’s evolving civic needs.

CMCB was one of the agencies tapped at the height of Boston’s 1970s school desegregation crisis, providing music classes in newly integrated schools to support community-building and help bridge divides. Years earlier, CMCB had already become an early pioneer in using music to support social-emotional development, work that would later evolve into what is now the board-certified profession of music therapy. Across generations, CMCB has continued to demonstrate how music education and music-based experiences can respond to municipal opportunities, foster belonging, and strengthen community connection.

Today, CMCB operates a large community music school, serves as a first touchpoint in music education for thousands of participants each year through schools and social services agencies, and is one of the largest external providers of arts education to Boston Public Schools. Supporting more than 2,500 students of all ages each week, CMCB is an anchor for local arts education, supporting learner-centered and culturally inclusive musical instruction in one of the most diverse cities in the nation. Approximately 80% of CMCB’s students are youth of color and 70% are economically disadvantaged. Through its Community Music School, Community Engagement Programs, Music Therapy, and nationally recognized Youth Employment Program, CMCB provides music learning opportunities across virtually every Boston neighborhood. CMCB's Community Music School sees over 400 households through private lessons, semester-based group classes for ages five and up, individual music therapy, small chamber groups, chamber orchestra, music theory, music production, and the Summer Arts and Music Program. CMCB’s Community Engagement Programs extend this work to over 2,000 more households through partnerships with public, charter, parochial, and independent schools, as well as health and human services organizations, community centers, and civic programs.

CMCB’s recent innovations are focused on a broadened impact of music. For example, CMCB is pioneering more inclusive and realistic pathways for pursuing music. CMCB’s new “Student Pathways” celebrate the range of musical interests and futures that bring people to music lessons. The four pathways, Musical Explorers, Community Musicians, Citizen Musicians, and Performing Musicians, recognize that students may be motivated by discovery, collaboration, social impact, performance, or a combination of these interests. Rather than requiring students to choose one fixed track, the pathways are flexible and intended to support ongoing conversations about growth, curiosity, and personal expression throughout a student’s journey at CMCB.

Another example of CMCB’s innovation and impact is the Youth Employment Program, which provides young people ages 14 and up with hands-on, part-time experience in arts administration within a nonprofit music education setting. Over 70 students participate each year in this nationally recognized program that supports workforce development, college and career mentorship, and youth economic empowerment. The program is strengthened by partnerships with organizations across the city of Boston, including strategic program partnerships with the Boston Bloomberg Arts Internship, Franklin Cummings Tech, and The Clubhouse Network, as well as employment partnerships with several local colleges and nonprofits.

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