GIA Publications - Artist

James Heiks is the Fine Arts Coordinator for the Appleton, Wisconsin Public Schools. Previously, he was associate professor of music at Goshen College, Indiana, following a thirty-year career in the Appleton, Wisconsin public schools. He is also the founder of the Appleton Boychoir, which has celebrated its 30th anniversary. In 1987, he led a contingency of 100 children and adults on a Mission of Peace to the former Soviet Union. His choirs have performed in Russia, Poland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Italy, Estonia, Norway, Mexico and Japan. In 1997, he received the Kohl Fellowship for Excellence and Innovation in Teaching from US Senator Herb Kohl, and was nominated for Wisconsin Teacher of the Year. In 1998 he was awarded Outstanding Teacher in Wisconsin by Lawrence University. His high school choirs have won critical acclaim for their compact disc recordings, and are featured along with choirs from around the globe on the Best of High School A Cappella CD released in 2003 by Varsity Vocals. As a student and colleague of Alice Parker, he is currently collaborating with her on a new folk songbook series Alice Parker’s Hand-Me-Down Songs published by GIA in 2005.