Welcome to the CMS 2026 Think-Tank Summit Ideas into Action:
Reimagining Music Schools for 2026 and Beyond
It is my great honor to welcome you to Houston, TX, for this generative think-tank summit.
Houston serves as a powerful microcosm of 2026 America, making it an ideal host for an innovation summit. As a progressive city in a conservative state located near the US-Mexico border, it sits at the literal and figurative crossroads of the nation’s immigration and political debates. The University of Houston, with its diverse student body, is a natural setting for discussions about whose music matters and for whom professional music education is intended. The university is located in the Third Ward, a historically segregated African American community (Beyoncé grew up just blocks away from the Moores School of Music), and near Emancipation Park, where the Emancipation Proclamation was read aloud, inspiring the Juneteenth holiday. The city is also defined by rapid evolution. Long known as an oil capital, Houston is now rapidly investing in green energy and global medical research. In education, the echoes of racial segregation still influence society, wealth disparities, and access to quality learning. In the arts, it is especially clear in a city thriving with leading institutions such as the Houston Grand Opera, the Houston Symphony, and the Houston Ballet, all supported by traditional social structures, yet lacking an A-tier jazz scene and systematic backing for African and Hispanic musics.
This summit is a design-thinking workshop aimed at developing an action plan and roadmap for the future. This summit is clearly not a conference with keynote speakers and academic presentations. Here, everyone attending brings equal value as a contributing member of a group that will create an innovation plan collaboratively. While rooted in philosophy and theoretical discussions, this weekend we will focus on taking action and developing implementation plans that build on conversations spanning years and decades.
Ten years ago, The College Music Society released the Report of the Task Force to Reimagine the Undergraduate Music Curriculum, commonly known as "The Manifesto." Both inspiring and controversial, this document has undoubtedly been a major disruptor in higher education music. The Manifesto has held up well over time and may even be considered prophetic, given the significant cultural and social changes we've experienced over the past decade. We lived through a global pandemic that compelled us to rethink how we create, teach, and experience music. The #MeToo movement and a national effort toward racial reconciliation helped advance discussions about whose music matters. Currently, we face political polarization and shifts that pose an existential threat to education, music, and the arts. As we stand in 2026, we hope this summit will serve as a call to action, outlining a path forward and fostering conversations that will influence the years and decades ahead.
As we engage in conversations this weekend, I want to suggest a few things to consider. In higher education, I notice that we often adopt a version of innovation that is filled with compromises, with resources and structures that constrain what we can implement. What structures and resources do we need to create to make our full vision a reality?
Guidelines for our conversations:
- Design Thinking Rules:
- Do not assume the first idea is the best.
- The more ideas, the better.
- We encourage you to share your voice and ideas, and ensure all voices that want to be heard are recorded in writing or video. You can also submit ideas after the summit.
- No Filibustering: please minimize “At my institution we…,” Or “We solved the problem by…”
- This is a Blue-Sky Summit – We will focus on the vision and the structures, resources, and capabilities we will need to make these visions possible.
If we are successful, we will use the roadmap and action plans created here for years to come as we pursue our vision for innovation and a brighter future in music and higher education.
Welcome to Houston, and thank you for bringing your brilliance and expertise!
Sincerely,
Brian Kai Chin, CMS President
(2024-2025)
