Our mentorship program is here to help out new directors (or directors new to SEIBA) in the Southeast District of Iowa. We do this by setting new directors up with an experienced or retired director as a mentor to help them out throughout the year. This help might include deadline reminders, suggestions on literature, ideas for rehearsals and performances, introducing them to other directors, or making helpful music contacts in SE Iowa and beyond. Many times the mentor is just a sounding board, but a sounding board that understands and many times has been there before.
If you (or a director you know) would like be a mentor, please contact Craig McClenahan ASAP so new directors can be set up with mentors before the school year starts. We had another very successful year last year with many of our mentors and new directors contacting each other via e-mail (where you can take your time to explain and think about what you want to say clearly and at your own convenience). We also encourage meeting face to face and attending many SEIBA, IBA and other band events/festivals throughout the year. The more events a director attends, the more other directors they can meet, the more experiences they can have and the more information they can collect to help decide what direction they want their band program will go in the future.
Our big project this year is to get some help from some retired directors to go out and visit new directors. We have two retired directors who are interested in making these visits at this time.
Our mentors do not always have time to make visits to the new directors during the school year and the one on one visits are important to physically see the rooms, schedules, and set up the directors are working in.
The state-wide IBA Mentorship program is only about five years old and we are always looking for ways to improve.