Franklin Casstevens

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The Yale School of Music announced that Franklin Casstevens was among those selected to receive the 2013 Yale Distinguished Music Educator Award.

Casstevens is a music teacher in the Union County Public Schools in Monroe, N.C.

The Yale Distinguished Music Educator Award is presented biennially to fifty music educators selected for their outstanding accomplishments teaching music in the nation’s public schools. From a pool of nearly 300 nominees representing 45 states, a panel of music professionals selected this year’s 50 Distinguished Music Educators. The selected educators hail from 32 different states, including the first ever Symposium attendees from Kansas and Mississippi.

Award recipients attend, all expenses paid, the Symposium on Music in Schools, which is held every two years at the Yale School of Music as part of its Music in Schools Initiative. The honors will be conferred at the Symposium’s Awards Dinner on Saturday, June 8. Anne Midgette, the classical music critic of The Washington Post who has also written for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Opera News, and other publications, as well as co-authoring two books, will give the keynote address.

With support from the Yale College Class of 1957, the Symposium on Music in Schools brings educators from around the country for three days of talks, intensive discussions, and other events. Workshops and discussions at this year’s symposium will focus around one main theme: The Role of Music in School Reform. Guest speakers include Richard Deasy, former director of the Arts Education Partnership; David Myers, Director of the University of Minnesota School of Music; and Scott Shuler, Arts Education specialist for the CT State Department of Education and Immediate Past President of the National Association for Music Education (NafME). The symposium also includes a performance by The Declassified, a cutting-edge chamber music society forging an integrated role for classical music in communities around the world.

The diverse Distinguished Music Educators come from thirty different states; teach both vocal and instrumental music across myriad genres; and work at the elementary, middle school, and high school levels in urban, rural, and suburban school districts.

About Franklin Casstevens

Franklin Casstevens resides in Monroe, NC with his wife Holly and son Trevor. His passion for the arts is showcased each week as he serves as Arts Coordinator for Benton Heights Elementary School of the Arts. He oversees arts classes, clubs and community programs including Benton’s partnership with Blumenthal Performing Arts Center in Charlotte, NC and their network as an A+ School.

He writes grants and is working to create a true arts-infused campus. Casstevens served as Benton’s music specialist for 21 years before leaving the classroom in 2007, as the school became the first elementary school of the arts in UCPS by adding dance, drama and strings. He also serves as Minister to Music and Youth at the New Salem Baptist Church in Monroe and has seven private piano students weekly. He is very active in his community and loves being creative and thinking outside the box.