Hayley Raye Murks-Abdikadirova, recipient of the Edith Eisler Award for Music Education, is Program Director of Longy’s Side-by-Side Orchestra Program and a graduate student at Harvard University. A proud product of Mississippi’s public school strings system, she brings over a decade of experience supporting young musicians in K–12, early college, and international festival settings. Hayley’s work sits at the intersection of arts leadership, education, and equity. She has held roles with Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras, Cremona International Music Academy (Italy), Brookline Symphony Orchestra, and the Women and Public Policy Program at the Harvard Kennedy School, and currently serves as General Manager of Boston’s Convergence Ensemble. In this role she collaborates with Artistic Director Rachel Goodwin and inaugural Massachusetts Poet Laureate Regie Gibson to design community-centered programs for Boston Public Schools, funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council. An active performer and certified teaching artist, Hayley has performed across the United States, Germany, and Italy, under conductors such as John Eliot Gardiner and Gustavo Dudamel as part of Longy’s inaugural Side-by-Side Conservatory cohort. She also serves on multiple arts organization boards and co-chairs Early Music America’s Emerging Professional Leadership Council. Hayley is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Education Leadership, Organizations, and Entrepreneurship in the Arts at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is committed to strengthening the orchestral ecosystem by expanding access, cultivating the next generation of artist-educators, and advancing organizational practices that center community, equity, and collaboration.