David Lapin
Executive Director, Community Music Center of Boston, Boston, MA
David Lapin has led Community Music Center of Boston since 1983. In that capacity, he has served on the boards of the Boston Annenberg Challenge, the Boston Center for the Arts, the National Guild for Community Arts Education, and numerous city task forces on arts education. He is a past president of the National Guild, a former member of the Walnut Hill School’s Board of Visitors and the school quality review team for Boston Arts Academy, the city’s high school for the arts. A member of the Harvard Musical Association (HMA), Lapin holds a Ph.D. from Yale University, and has taught at Yale and Cornell.
In 1998, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino appointed him to the citizens committee that created a civic vision for air rights development of the Massachusetts Turnpike. In 2006, he received an honorary diploma from The Learning Project Elementary School “in recognition of [his] inspired leadership of Community Music Center of Boston.” Lapin has also served on many diverse panels for HMA, Berklee College of Music, Longy School of Music, the Massachusetts Cultural Council and New England Conservatory.
In June 2008, David Lapin celebrated his 25th anniversary as CMCB executive director. The honorary committee at Lapin’s June 8 anniversary gala was composed of Mayor Thomas Menino, Boston School Superintendent Carol Johnson, the presidents of Berklee College of Music, Boston Conservatory, Longy School of Music, New England Conservatory, and the executive director of the National Guild. In a proclamation making June 8, 2008 David Lapin Day in the City of Boston, Mayor Menino recognized Lapin for exemplifying “a profound humanity and passion for inclusion, promoting access and diversity, nurturing youth, encouraging freedom of expression, and keeping the history, mission and spirit of Community Music Center of Boston’s founders alive and of service to future generations.”