The Association for Music in International Schools, best known as AMIS, is an organization that brings together students of schools worldwide who excel in musical achievements for days of music practice and then conclude with a concert. The Association also provides professional development through an annual Music Educators' Conference. The Acronym The association name Amis is also French for the word friends. The founders of AMIS choose this name with the purpose of the association in mind. Amis symbolizes friendships established by children all over the world who attend AMIS Festivals. AMIS' vision is to create a music festival atmosphere that is a place of learning, laughing and most importantly coming together; this is reflected in its name. Although the association AMIS is based out of the United Kingdom, the association chose a French (as opposed to an English) name to represent the numerous nationalities that participate in and contribute to AMIS festivals all over the world. Mission statement “The Association is an international, non-profit, non-sectarian, politically neutral organization dedicated to the promotion of excellence at all levels of music education. Its objectives are to advance the education of school pupils and teachers throughout the world by developing their understanding, knowledge and appreciation of music; to advance the education of young people and their teachers in global issues and cultural diversity through the performance and study of music; to promote high standards of musical performance in school pupils of all ages and abilities throughout the world; to promote furtherance of educationally valuable music repertoire.” AMIS Festivals Once a year, there is a festival for each of the different categories. (See Festival Categories for list). Each festival is hosted by an AMIS Membership school, rotating between them yearly. To qualify for band, strings, and all High School auditions, students must audition by recordings, which are judged by a blind panel of music educators. Middle School Choir auditions are conducted by each participating school's teacher. The successful students travel to the host school and participate in the practice days and the final concert. The format is usually: travel Wednesday, rehearse Thursday-Saturday, concert Saturday evening, travel home Sunday. AMIS' member schools mainly lie in Europe and Asia, with some participants in Africa (although at the moment there is one membership school that participates in festivals and hails from Central America). Founded in London, AMIS slowly grew across Western Europe and now has many