Since we last wrote.......
MENC has been a ghost-town, of sorts! Since last Friday, with exec staff on their way to Florida, the level of "background hum" is considerably lower! (to say nothing of the parking lot being considerably emptier!).
We did have our summer social last Thursday, in honor of the solstice, courtesy of MENC's publications department, who showered us with watermelon, brownies, ice tea and music! Singing In the Good Old Summertime, the MENC Centennial Canon and the National Anthem!
Friday, EH showed us a DVD collage of media coverage from the National Anthem Finale - what great footage! MENC hopes to get it up on the MENC website soon for all to enjoy!
Tuesday 26th, MENC set up a live web link for staff here at the national office to watch/participate in the Keynote address at the Centennial Congress in Florida. We were able to watch and listen as former Governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee addressed the Congress regarding music ed advocacy...and Anne Bryant, Executive Director National School Boards Association, and Brenda Welburn, Executive Director, National Association of State Boards of Education added their thoughts about strategies for dealing with local and state school boards.
I share below a few points that stuck with me. Hopefully, there will be a transcript or some other summary of the talks soon available on the MENC website or news pages....
Huckabee talked about how music is a life skill, a life long skill, not something you learn in school and then forget; he listed three points to remember:
1. real change is deployed at the LOCAL level, not the federal, and that is where influence from the community supporting music should be directed. Huckabee says the battlefield for winning the "get music into every school at every grade level K - 12" is at the LOCAL and state level. Policy is driven at the state level, innovation is at the state level. So, we need to PUSH at the STATE (and district) level. Not so much at the Federal level.
2. "You only fund what you force" - that is, build a mandate into the law and that will force the issue, and the money should follow.....push the issue!
3. you only improve in the games in which you keep score - that is, find ways to keep score and build community pride in the program - score the value of the arts program - performances, assessments, show cases....show it makes a difference!
Huckabee talked about "Play it Again, Arkansas!" a program where the state ran a used instrument drive, asking folks to donate old instruments they might have sitting unused. Music vendors across the state volunteered to fix these unused instruments, and donors got a tax break. The repaired, donated instruments were then distributed to school band directors in Arkansas, and when Gov. Huckabee visited the Arkansas All State festival, the director told him that the student who was first chair in the All State band had, one and a half years prior, not even had an instrument, as his parents couldn't afford it - and now, he was All State first chair! Talk about making things happen!
He spoke of building a bi-partisan coalition, a bi-partisan team. NO ONE OWNS this issue! It's a UNIFYING issue!!
When asked how to get the governors and local government officials to listen - he said, governors are competitive; they watch each other and see what is working in other states; they like to win. So, find a way to push your governor, find someone who knows him/her, convince your governor and leaders by building a coalition in the community.... make it easy for them to WIN at this issue......make it easy for your governor, school board, or district personnel to sell the idea to those higher up.......figure out what the community cares about, and present your argument and a win/win solution the government official can take to his higher ups. HELP the school boards and superintendents, show them that if the kids succeed, THEY succeed. Show them that the KIDS are the constituents!
Finally, Huckabee gave an example of how to deal with community members who may say they don't have kids in the system, don't care, don't want to help, tired of paying taxes for education, etc........he said remind them that future of our country depends on the education kids get today....that the kid serving burgers or working at local shops are kids in school NOW, and WILL be the doctors, businesspeople, mechanics, you name it, workers of tomorrow. That your life may depend on these kids, and it's in your best interest to care about the type and quality of education they get. The better educated they are, the better YOUR future as a citizen in this town/country is. Services and skills will be accurate and high with a good education - of which music is a huge part!!
ANNE BRYANT of NSBA mentioned, among other things, that a year or so ago, she asked a Disney executive, who does Disney hire? And that executive told her, we don't hire the MBAs, the accountants, the IT people - we hire the musicians and artists, because we can always teach them the other skills.....in essence, they wanted creativity in their new hires.
Brenda and Anne were asked what forms of evidence are most persuasive for local boards? They answered that while data is certainly good, stats, etc., legislators also LOVE the stories, so don't leave out the stories!
OTHER ITEMS OF NOTE:
Finally, GOOD NEWS!! Quoting from the MENC June 2007 Legislative Newsletter:
"On June 7, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (LHHS) passed the Fiscal Year 2008 (FY08) budget, and as part of this, they designated $2.2 million for the Fast Response Survey System (FRSS) which would allow enough money to perform the long-overdue FRSS in the arts, the last of which was done in 1999-2000" (see this link: http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/frss/publications/2002131/ ) and 1994 http://nces.ed.gov/pubs95/95082.pdf
"This significant success is a direct result of the intensive efforts by the arts education community, including MENC, over the past several years! "
I say YAHOO!! Boy, do we need stats and data on what's happening in the arts in our schools. This is GREAT NEWS!!!
CLICK HERE to register to get the MEMO
RESOURCES FOR PONDERING during summer days:
Musician Health
click to see the MENC Position paper on this topic
and read a short article (note: scroll ALL the way to the end of the page once it opens, article is at the end!) about hearing loss in musicians, and the program at the University of North Texas Center for Music and Medicine
NYTIMES Chamber music: is it dying?
ROCKERS ON TV by Steven Van Zandt
And see Little Steven's Underground Garage!
WATER COOLER
Did you know that MENC has, in fact, just ONE water cooler?! (bubbler, fountain!) for the three floors. I guess according to health codes, the ratio of staff to fountain is adequate. And it seems most non-work conversation actually goes on in the hallways, in the kitchens, between cubicles, and out in the lobby, rather than at the bubbler! Stay cool !
See you next week! SR
