In Practice

Dr. Renée Westlake is a lifelong educator, musician, and arts advocate whose work bridges classrooms, rehearsal halls, nonprofit board rooms, and communities across Montana and the Northwest. Over a 40-year career in public education, she taught music at every level—from elementary general music to advanced placement music theory—along with jazz band, flute choir, world music, and beginning band. She later served as Fine Arts Supervisor for the Bozeman School District until her retirement in 2015. Alongside her work in schools, Renée taught private flute lessons and performed for many years as a flutist with the Bozeman Symphony, experiences that continue to shape her perspective on the shared mission of education and performance.

Renée currently runs a consulting and mentoring practice focused on student leadership, professional growth, and arts advocacy, with particular attention to rural school districts and tribal communities. She remains deeply engaged in nonprofit arts leadership, serving as president of Montana Chamber Music, local president of Delta Kappa Gamma, a teaching honorary dedicated to excellence in education, and as a field supervisor for music student teachers at Montana State University. She also serves on the Council of Ambassadors for the Bozeman Symphony, maintaining close ties to the orchestral community.

Her past nonprofit leadership includes service on founding boards for the Montana Center for the Arts, Montana Youth Symphony, and Arts Without Boundaries, as well as board chair roles for the Bozeman Symphony and Montana Ballet Company. Renée has held leadership positions at the state, regional, and national levels with NAfME: the National Association for Music Education, including president of the Northwest Division, state president of the Montana Music Educators Association, and president of the Montana General Music Teachers Association. She has also served multiple terms on the Montana Arts Council, advocating for arts access and education statewide.

Renée is a frequent clinician at music education conferences throughout the Northwest and an adjudicator at district and state music festivals. She spent many summers teaching flute and leadership seminars at the Yellowstone Summer Music Camp in Powell, Wyoming, a program mentoring underserved rural students. Her writing includes co-authored publications for NAfME, collaboration on their All-In education initiative, and her forthcoming book, Growing Leadership: Mentoring Students in Schools, currently in final edits.

Her work has been recognized with numerous honors, including the Lowell Mason Fellowship, NAfME’s Distinguished Service Award for Lifetime Achievement in Music Education, the National Federation of Interscholastic Music Association’s Regional Educator of the Year Award, and Music Educators Journal’s Top Teachers in the 50 States. She was also named a Montana State University Centennial Alumnus, recognized among the institution’s 100 outstanding graduates in its first 100 years.

Renée is married to a fourth-generation Montana farmer and is the proud mother of two daughters, two sons-in-law, and two grandchildren—each, in their own way, an enthusiastic participant in or supporter of the arts. She brings to her work a deep belief that strong arts organizations and strong schools grow best when they grow together.