Band Director Honored at Statehouse for Being Art Advocate

Pictured, from left, are AES 500 Festival Parade co-chairs Jack Haefling and Mark Eutsler, North Montgomery Director of Bands and Montgomery County United Marching Band & Guard Co-Director Andy Simpkins and State Rep. Beau Baird at the Indianapolis Statehouse North Atrium during the Indiana Arts Education Network Arts Education Advocacy Day where Simpkins was recognized as one of the highest achieving music educators of excellence in Indiana. In its first two years of competition, 2021 and 2022, MCU Winter Winds earned back-to-back state championships. In 2023, the MCU Marching Band and Guard appeared on national television as one of the bands invited to appear in the AES 500 Festival Parade, the nation’s third-largest parade. Crawfordsville High School Director of Bands Jon Tebbe and Southmont Royal Mountie Band and Cadets Director Elizabeth Newnum are also MCU co-directors.