Updates to Foothills Music Director Search

Thank you for your active participation in our Music Director search process. Your feedback—whether through surveys, personal conversations, or insights from services—has been invaluable. We received input from a broad cross-section of our community, including choir members, musicians, staff, virtual attendees, and others involved in our music programming. Our goal has been to be transparent and open-minded at every juncture of this process, and we hope you’ve experienced that. 

The feedback process reflected diverse perspectives as well as strong feelings, both positive and negative about the fit of our final candidate. You can read a summary of the feedback here. The congregation, board, staff and Music Hiring Advisory team share a recognition that our music program must be resourced with strong musical and technical skills but also embody the values and spirit of our congregation. After careful consideration, we’ve decided not to move forward with the final candidate. While this outcome is disappointing, we made this decision with the long-term health of our music ministry in mind, as we seek a partner who will be with us for years to come.

The last quarter of the year is one of the busiest at Foothills, and we believe it is important to prioritize our current ministry programming and operating functions. Continuing the search at this time would not allow us to focus on the immediate needs of our congregation. Therefore, we are pausing the search until next spring.

In the interim, we will implement a temporary music leadership structure to keep our music ministry vibrant and connected. We have identified local staffing options that will serve in an interim basis in leading the choir, song leading on Sundays, and managing musician coordination, logistics, and creative planning. Our goal is to maintain a high standard of musical leadership while we continue the search. We will share more details about this plan and invite your partnership over the next few weeks.. 

We plan to resume the search in the new year aligned with a more regular hiring cycle. Our aim will be to hire a new Music Director who can begin by September 2025. This timeline will allow us to approach the search with renewed energy and carefully consider candidates who align with our needs and values. In the meantime we are grateful for your partnership and patience as we navigate this transition. Music is at the heart of the life of our community, and we remain committed to ensuring it continues to nourish and inspire us.

Thank you again for your trust, engagement, and commitment. We look forward to finding a Music Director who can help us fulfill our mission of unleashing courageous love through music. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us.

Sincerely,
Rev. Gretchen Haley
Rev. Sean Neil Barron
Katie Watkins, DFO