Arizona Music Educators Association

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The Arizona Music Educators Association (AMEA), as its name implies, is a membership-based association for music instructors in Arizona, particularly in public schools. It is a state-level unit of the Music Educators National Conference. AMEA was established in 1939, and usually has approximately 1000 members.

AMEA organizes a number of annual music festivals for primary, middle school, and secondary school students. Some examples of festivals include All-Regional and All-State High School Bands, Choirs and Orchestras. State high schools are assigned to a specific region (e.g. North Central and West Region) and students audition for spots in the regional ensembles. Students successfully auditioning for one of the all-regional ensembles are allowed to then audition for the all-state ensemble of their choice. There are also ABODA (Arizona Band and Orchestra Directors Association) festivals, in which conductors of various middle and/or high school bands and orchestras take their ensembles to the place of the festival and perform for judges; they then receive plaques with an evaluation of their performance.