NAMM Admitted to International Music Council

NAMM, the trade association of the international music products industry, was recently granted membership admission to the International Music Council (IMC), making NAMM the first organization of its kind to be admitted to the worldwide organization.

IMC is a global network of expert organizations and individuals working in the field of music. Founded in 1949 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), an association that encourages international peace and universal respect by promoting collaboration among nations, IMC is mandated to promote musical diversity and support cultural rights for all.

“NAMM is an important organization in the commercial music world,” said Richard Letts, president of IMC. “NAMM produces a very large annual trade convention each year in the U.S. and has also established a partnership to present a regular convention in China. NAMM has taken a very enlightened approach to its brief, forming a 120-member coalition in the U.S. to advocate on behalf of music education. It has established a foundation that offers funding support to a number of music projects internationally.”

In addition, to fill a vacant IMC executive board position, the IMC board elected Mary Luehrsen, NAMM’s director of public affairs and government relations, to serve as a member.

Since 2001, Luehrsen has been a senior executive with NAMM, overseeing the organization’s federal-level policy development and government relations efforts around issues affecting access to music education and global commerce in the music industry. Luehrsen also manages the NAMM Foundation research division that supports peer-reviewed scientific research exploring the role of music over the life span. She spearheaded the redeployment of the Music Education Coalition under the banner of SupportMusic.com. The Coalition has grown to 120 affiliated national organizations working to boost community-based music education advocacy efforts.

“Mary will bring high skills in a number of areas of importance to the IMC and is enthusiastic about joining the board,” Letts said. “The board looks forward greatly to Mary’s active participation.”