Recording Academy And GRAMMY Museum Present 2019 Music Educator Award to Jeffery Redding

Dr. Jeffery Redding of West Orange High School in Winter Garden, Florida, has been announced as the recipient of the 2019 Music Educator Award™ presented by the Recording Academy™ and GRAMMY Museum®. In addition, nine music teachers have been announced as finalists for the award. Initial nominations were submitted from all 50 states. Nominations and applications for the 2020 Music Educator Award are now open via www.grammymusicteacher.com.

A partnership and joint presentation of the Recording Academy and GRAMMY Museum, the Music Educator Award was established to recognize current educators (kindergarten through college, public and private schools) who have made a significant and lasting contribution to the field of music education and who demonstrate a commitment to the broader cause of maintaining music education in schools.

The award is open to current U.S. music teachers, and anyone can nominate a teacher-students, parents, friends, colleagues, community members, school deans, and administrators. Teachers are also able to nominate themselves, and nominated teachers are notified and invited to fill out an application.

Each year, one recipient is selected from 10 finalists and recognized for their remarkable impact on students' lives. The 2019 honoree will be in Los Angeles, the host city of the GRAMMY Awards®, and will be recognized during GRAMMY®Week. The recipient will also attend the 61st Annual GRAMMY Awards ceremony on Feb. 10 and a range of GRAMMY Museum events. The winner will receive a $10,000 honorarium with a matching school grant. The nine additional finalists will receive a $1,000 honorarium, and their schools will also receive matching grants.

The grants provided to the finalists and schools are made possible by the generosity and support of the GRAMMY Museum's Education Champion Ford Motor Company Fund. In addition, the American Choral Directors Association, National Association for Music Education, NAMM Foundation, and National Education Association support this program through outreach to their constituencies.

Dr. Jeffery Redding is the director of Choral Activities at West Orange High School in Winter Garden, Florida, and has led his choirs in performance at state, regional, and national conventions of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA). West Orange choirs have earned first place and top honors at festivals across the country. Dr. Redding is in demand as a guest conductor and lecturer: He has conducted the ACDA National High School Honor Choir, among many other honor choirs, and has been featured as a guest conductor at the TAISM Festival of Choirs, Carnage Hall, and other prestigious venues in the United States and abroad. In 2015, Dr. Redding was awarded the R. Wayne Hugoboom Distinguished Service Award for "dedicated service, leadership, and excellence" by the Florida Chapter of ACDA. In addition to his duties at West Orange, he is the founder and artistic director of the Garden Community Choir and a professional chamber choir Voci del Cuore in Winter Garden. He is a member of ACDA, NAfME, FVA, NATS, and Chorus America.

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