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Conference Updates – February 2024

Registration is open and hotel rooms in the AUUMM block are still available! Make plans now to attend the Annual Conference in Albuquerque, NM on July 31-August 4, 2024.

Arts-Based Community Engagement

Spotlight Speaker: Cathryn McGill

In addition to her musical career, Cathryn is the Founder and Director of the New Mexico Black Leadership Council. Her dedication to cultural and community development has been widely recognized, earning her accolades such as the 2012 YWCA Women On the Move Award, 2013 University of New Mexico Africana Studies “Person of the Year,” and 2014 NM Business First Woman of Influence and Creative Albuquerque Brazos Award.

Her leadership has been instrumental in challenging the tricultural myth in New Mexico, advocating for the inclusion of Black communities in the cultural and social fabric of the state. Under her direction, the New Mexico Black Leadership Council focuses on areas like Positive Youth Development, Advocacy & Civic Engagement, Workforce & Leadership Development, and Cultural Vibrancy, significantly impacting the African American community in New Mexico.

Cathryn McGill’s dedication to arts-based community development and her significant contributions to music and cultural leadership make her an inspiring figure in New Mexico’s cultural landscape. McGill has had a decades long love affair with the First Unitarian Church in Albuquerque where she has been a featured soloist, a Sunday morning speaker and a summer occupant of the building for the Roots Summer Leadership Academy since 2013.

Saturday night at AUUMM – we’ve got you covered.

from rev. theresa rohlck, Member Engagement Coordinator

Your AUUMM conference planning team knows it’s hard to beat a rowdy hymn session (which you now know you can experience on the first evening of the conference). So we have lined up the first ever AUUMM Battle of the Bands for Saturday evening. All week bands will be forming, rehearsing, providing music, and doing all the other things bands do, to get ready to compete in this inaugural Battle. Who will emerge as the top band this year? You’ll have to be there to find out.

from Matt Meyer, Band/Songleader Coordinator

A Gathering of UU Worship Bands: This July in Albuquerque!

Are you a bassist, drummer, keyboardist, singer, guitarist, and horn player rocking out in your UU congregation?

You’re invited to the first ever gathering of UU Worship Bands: a gathering within the larger annual conference of AUUMM (The Association of UU Music Ministries). This year our conference will have a series of workshops, as well as ensembles and worship services for you, our contemporary instrumentalists from around the country.

Whether you play for services once a week or once a year, we want you to join us for networking and learning together. Whether you’re arranging hymns to add a rock, country, jazz, or pop feel, or whether you’re finding other contemporary music that works for Sunday morning, we want you to come spend the week playing with other UU musicians in workshops and ensembles. Whether you’re a professional musician or just getting the hang of playing in a group, we want you to come connect with other UU musicians from around the country.

The UU Songleaders Convergence

The UU Songleaders Convergence is a gathering for singers and songleaders to share skills, best practices, wisdom, and of course, songs. We’ll gather to learn, connect, and nurture a deeper culture of community singing in our congregations and UU communities. The Convergence is a gathering within the larger AUUMM annual conference. Whether you read music or not, whether you lead singing every Sunday or want to try it for the first time, join us for a transformative gathering of resonance, harmony, and rhythm.

Who’s Invited?

• Choir members, professional singers, or singers who don’t read music.
• UU’s leading songs for congregational singing or who want to.
• UU’s leading songs in the streets for marches and rallies.
• UU musicians of all skill levels looking to learn more skills for songleading.
• Musicians of all skills levels looking to learn more songs that can be done with instruments or written words.
• Ministers and Religious Educators who are songleading, particularly in small churches.

What’s the Convergence Program for this year?

• Song Swaps for Worship and Community Singing
• Songleading Masterclass
• Rowdy Hymns
• Songs for Rallies & Protests
• Finding Your Voice: Vocal technique & Spiritual Practice
• Circle Songs: Facilitated Singing Improvisation
• Songs for Rest & Healing

Registration is open at auumm.org/conf2024