Now in its third year, the Australian Youth Orchestra’s Music in Me Summit is beginning to look less like an experiment and more like a movement.

What began in 2023 as a professional development day for primary music educators has now grown into one of the country’s most distinctive gatherings for classroom teachers, specialist music educators and musicians.

For Music in Me’s director Bernie Heard, the success of the summit’s second year confirmed the project was striking a chord across the sector.

“We had a pretty even mix of music specialists and generalist primary school teachers coming along, which really shows us that I think we’re getting it right in terms of who our audience is,” Heard says. “We’re trying to cater for both.”

And the summit itself?

“It was brilliant,” she says. “It was an incredibly joyful day. And the venue [ACO on the Pier, overlooking Sydney’s Walsh Bay] is such a lovely place to hold it. Many of our music teachers don’t get a chance to to go somewhere swanky and feel a little bit special. I think it really honours the important work they do.”

The Music in Me Summit....