DeVon Pickett did not plan to be a music educator — he graduated from Fayetteville State University with a degree in music performance. “I took a gamble on becoming a band director and spent three years at a middle school in Raeford, North Carolina,” he says. He clearly found his calling. He spent the following 10 years as a high school director, then two years as the assistant director of bands at the collegiate level. Pickett has been the Director of Arts for Scotland County Schools in Laurinburg, North Carolina, for the last two years. Along the way, he earned a master’s in music education from Boston University.
Part of his success is due to the way he works through denials and adversity. “When I hear ‘no,’ I don’t actually hear no. I hear ‘just not that way.’” Pickett explains that he was told “no” at least two or three times for everything he has in life. “If you don’t believe in yourself, no one else will.”
In his new position, Pickett plans to revitalize Scotland County’s Arts Education programs through district-wide collaborative performances that involve community support as well as partnerships with local universities. ”Not only has this brought awareness to the great things we are doing, but it also brings the support that is needed to push our vision. With this support, we have been able to bring back the fine arts disciplines that were not present in Scotland County Schools.”
Pickett also plans to increase student fine arts scholarships. “Scholarships are the confirmation that fine arts programs are moving in the right direction. We currently have partnerships with two universities and two foundations to ensure a solid start towards these scholarships.”
A new event that Pickett is extremely proud of is the Scotland County Schools Honors Arts Festival, which highlights all fine arts subjects and is for students who take fine arts seriously. “We call it honors because the performances and art products produced from the festival are expected to be of higher caliber,” Pickett explains. “We bring in highly qualified clinicians for each concentration, and the honors students spend two to three days in workshops with the clinicians as well as preparing performances and artwork for the final day.”
During Pickett’s decade at Hoke County High School in Raeford, North Carolina, the program struggled financially and lacked resources. “It was my goal to build a comprehensive program that students could be proud to be a part of but also bring awareness to the district that we needed the proper support to make this major stride,” he explains. “Upon winning several marching band championships, our big breakthrough came when we became one of eight bands selected nationwide (tha included wind bands as well as orchestras) to participate in the National Band and Orchestra Festival at Carnegie Hall 2017. This invite brought enough awareness to our district that we were able to find funding to purchase concert band instruments.”
Pickett and his Hoke County band program traveled across the country and performed at some of the largest venues in front of huge crowds. “We were able to compile over $100 million in band scholarships during my 10-year tenure,” he says with pride.
While he was an assistant director at his alma mater, Fayetteville State University, Pickett created an opportunity for K-12 public school students to experience concert band because the Fayetteville area already focused so much on marching bands. For the WindFest concert band festival, Pickett called in favors from collegiate directors to come and adjudicate the ensembles and then present a clinic after the students’ performance. “WindFest gave students and directors an opportunity to grow immediately in real time and take some constructive criticism back to their programs as well as keep the concert band season alive longer than just one performance,” he says.
