The recent events surrounding the senseless death of George Floyd and countless other Black people and people of color remind us that racism and inequality are real and pervasive problems in our society that must be addressed. MPA strives to be an inclusive community for everyone and is committed to doing our part. To expedite our work toward this goal, we are immediately forming an equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) task force that will:

• Seek perspectives from diverse voices within the MPA community
• Amend the MPA Code of Conduct to emphasize EDI
• Review MPA’s policies and operations for opportunities to address EDI concerns
• Explore EDI training opportunities for MPA personnel, instructors, and performers
• Collaborate with our partners in the performing arts to strengthen EDI in our activity

We encourage all interested community members to join the MPA EDI Task Force by filling out the form below. Let's get to work.

MPA is proud to award five $500 scholarships in 2020: four for higher education and one for drum corps. In addition, one of the college scholarships is designated as the Kayla Koranda Memorial Scholarship (see more about this special scholarship below).

Congratulations to our scholarship winners! And thank you to all the very impressive applicants.

Winners

College scholarships:

• Cole Carlson: Buffalo HS (Kayla Koranda Memorial College Scholarship)
• Daniel Vazquez: Burnsville HS
• Caleb Nadeau: Forest Lake HS
• Griffin Laihinen: Rosemount HS

Drum corps scholarship:

• Kylie Johnson: Dassel-Cokato HS and River City Rhythm

Kayla Koranda Memorial Scholarship

Kayla Koranda loved music and was heavily involved in music and fine arts at Rochester Lourdes High School. She enjoyed playing the flute, the vibraphone, the piano, singing, and performing in plays. Kayla was part of the Lourdes Marching Band, Concert Band, Pep Band, the Hi-lighters Jazz Band, Jazz Lab Ensembles, and the Winter Drumline. Kayla brought a huge smile, strong leadership, and wonderful kindness to all of these activities. She was always first to pitch in to help and had a special way of making sure everyone felt included. After Kayla graduated from Lourdes High School in 2013, she went to attend the University of Minnesota and joined MBI Indoor Percussion. Kayla was tragically killed in January 2014 while trying to help a friend. As one of the ways to help remember and honor Kayla, her family created the Kayla Koranda Memorial College Scholarship.

MPA celebrates the incredible dedication of our performers and everlasting support from our instructors, families, volunteers, personnel, sponsors and fans. Thank you for making 2020 an awesome season for MPA, and here's looking forward to an even better 2021!

 

{simplepopup}After thoroughly studying the rapidly evolving COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic and the many factors involved — including guidance from international, national and local health authorities; other youth activities organizations; educational institutions; WGI; and other arts associations and circuits across the country — the MPA Board of Directors has come to the extremely painful but unanimous decision to cancel the rest of the 2020 MPA season for the health and safety of everyone in the MPA community, effective immediately.

This was an extremely difficult decision to make but is one we feel is in the best interest of MPA's performers, instructors, parents, personnel, fans and everyone else involved in our community.

We will follow up soon with more details about the impact of this decision, including refunds for the Solo and Ensemble Contest, scholarships and other questions.

Please don't hesitate to reach out to us with questions. The MPA community will get through this unprecedented and heartbreaking time together.

Sincerely,

The MPA Board of Directors{/simplepopup}

After thoroughly studying the rapidly evolving COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic and the many factors involved — including guidance from international, national and local health authorities; other youth activities organizations; educational institutions; WGI; and other arts associations and circuits across the country — the MPA Board of Directors has come to the extremely painful but unanimous decision to cancel the rest of the 2020 MPA season for the health and safety of everyone in the MPA community, effective immediately.

This was an extremely difficult decision to make but is one we feel is in the best interest of MPA's performers, instructors, parents, personnel, fans and everyone else involved in our community.

We will follow up soon with more details about the impact of this decision, including refunds for the Solo and Ensemble Contest, scholarships and other questions.

Please don't hesitate to reach out to us with questions. The MPA community will get through this unprecedented and heartbreaking time together.

Sincerely,

The MPA Board of Directors

Come support our MPA performers as they take the stage in the 2020 MPA Solo and Ensemble Contest on Saturday, March 14, at Dassel-Cokato High School. The contest will take place between the prelims and finals portions of the WGI Minneapolis regional being held there that day.

See the schedules and map below for details:

• Auditorium schedule
• West gym schedule

{simplepopup}MPA is closely monitoring the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) situation and will follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state and county/city health officials, school districts, and venue partners to ensure a safe environment for our performers, instructors, personnel, volunteers and fans. At this point, there is no change to the remainder of the 2020 MPA season. But we are preparing contingency plans and are ready to act quickly in the best interest of all involved with MPA, should the need arise. MPA will immediately notify everyone involved if changes to the current schedule for the rest of the season are needed.{/simplepopup}

MPA is closely monitoring the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) situation and will follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state and county/city health officials, school districts, and venue partners to ensure a safe environment for our performers, instructors, personnel, volunteers and fans.

At this point, there is no change to the remainder of the 2020 MPA season. But we are preparing contingency plans and are ready to act quickly in the best interest of all involved with MPA, should the need arise.

MPA will immediately notify everyone involved if changes to the current schedule for the rest of the season are needed.