The Choral Executive Leadership Academy is an intensive leadership development program focusing on the skill development of leaders who have been marginalized because of race and ethnicity. The Leadership Academy focuses on building administrative skillsets required of C-suite leaders, with specific attention to unique challenges that these leaders face in predominantly White institutions, in order to create career pathways to executive leadership.

Participants who complete this program will be equipped with the skills and support system to hold executive positions in choral organizations. Chorus America envisions increased diversity (and racial diversity in particular) in the choral field’s C-suite administrative leadership as a direct outcome of this program.

Interested in the next cohort?

If you are interested in signing up the next time the Choral Executive Leadership Academy is offered or learning more information about it when it is, fill out this form. We'll send you an update when we are preparing to launch the program again. Applicants from all choral backgrounds are welcome and encouraged to apply!

Collaboration With Equity Sings

The Choral Executive Leadership Academy is developed in collaboration with choral conductor, composer, consultant, and equity coach Arreon Harley-Emerson, and rooted in the proven curriculum of the “Leaders of Promise” program, which Harley-Emerson created as part of his consulting business, Equity Sings.

Inaugural 2023 Program

In the summer of 2023, the inaugural Choral Executive Leadership Academy combined online learning (including synchronous and asynchronous formats) with hands-on guidance from expert faculty, one-on-one mentorship, and a kickoff in-person convening at the 2023 Chorus America Conference in San Francisco, CA. The inaugural Leadership Academy served 27 participants, providing the opportunity to develop a cohort of peers and meaningful connections within the choral field.