Adrian Davis
Dr. Adrian Davis is a native of Memphis, TN, and he currently resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is a skilled and experienced educator whose contribution to the profession is developing programs that intentionally center the student voice, community uplift, sociocultural relevance, and critical consciousness. Dr. Davis is an Assistant Professor of Music Education and Director of the Gospel Choir at the University of Minnesota. His current research continues to launch deeper into diversity and equity, with an emphasis in critical pedagogies, amplifying marginalized and racially minoritized voices, and democratizing K-12 and post-secondary pathways in music education.
His diverse talents and experiences as an educator, scholar, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, producer, and songwriter provide a strong base of inspiration for his current leadership position as the Performing Arts Coordinator of Saint Paul Public Schools. In this role, he works at the district leadership level in designing arts curriculum, and creating professional arts learning opportunities for teachers. His role also includes providing access and educational justice for all students in and through arts programs and services. He is spanning the boundaries of arts education by partnering with many localarts organizations and community artists.
Dr. Davis has been featured internationally as an ensemble conductor for many music ensembles, and as a clinician, and speaker. He has presented at notable music conferences including the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago (2017), the Big Ten Academic Alliance Music Education Conference at the University of Iowa (2019, 2023), the Desert Skies Music Research Symposium at Arizona State University (2021), and the NAfME Music Research and Teacher Education Conference (2021), the Society for Music Teacher Education Symposium (2023), the Cultural Diversity for Music Education Symposium (2023), the MayDay for Music Education Symposium (2024), and the Association for Popular Music Education Conferences (2024, 2025).
He is an actively engaged member of the National Executive Board for the National Association of Music Education (NAfME), serving on the Equity Committee. He is also an active member of the other professional arts organizations, such as the College Music Society (CMS), the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), the Percussive Arts Society (PAS), and the Association for Popular Music Education (APME).
