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{MUSICADVOCACY}<br />
JOIN A<br />
COALITION<br />
MENZIE PITTMAN CONTEMPORARY MUSIC CENTER<br />
HAYMARKET, VA.<br />
For school music advocates,<br />
your first email<br />
from the Fairfax<br />
Arts Coalition for<br />
Education (FACE)<br />
creates a sinking feeling because<br />
you know it will be the first of<br />
many. But this year, advocates<br />
breathed a sigh of relief. After a<br />
long, arduous battle, FACE<br />
helped save the elementary<br />
band and orchestra programs in<br />
Fairfax County. And I was<br />
lucky to be part of the process.<br />
WHY FACE WORKS<br />
Why did FACE succeed<br />
when other attempts to<br />
save school music programs<br />
have fallen short? In my opinion,<br />
the single most important<br />
element was, and is, unified<br />
communication.<br />
FACE’s mission is to serve as<br />
a coalition for all arts education.<br />
Its stroke of brilliance is getting<br />
the different groups working<br />
together instead of against one<br />
another. To do so, it has a<br />
unique model, made up of a<br />
steering committee and a body<br />
of advocates. By incorporating<br />
all of its constituent organizations<br />
— music associations, theater<br />
director organizations,<br />
dance teachers, visual arts<br />
teachers, PTAs and local vendors<br />
— FACE has an immediate<br />
network that can react quickly.<br />
FACE’s leadership also<br />
understands the system it’s up<br />
against. The organization<br />
works in lockstep with the<br />
52 I MUSIC INC. I OCTOBER 2010<br />
school system’s budget calendar.<br />
It knows the players. It<br />
knows who encourages a wellrounded<br />
education and who<br />
supports the arts. The steering<br />
committee takes no opportunity<br />
for granted. This year,<br />
FACE embraced social networking<br />
and viral marketing to<br />
educate the public on budget<br />
issues. A petition on its Web<br />
site and Facebook page, for<br />
instance, amassed more than<br />
12,000 signatures in support of<br />
arts education.<br />
RETAILER CONTRIBUTIONS<br />
It’s important to note that<br />
FACE is an independent<br />
organization with no affiliation<br />
to the school system. Members<br />
do their advocacy work outside<br />
of schools. That’s where music<br />
retailers come in. FACE needs<br />
resources, and dealers have fax<br />
machines and technical capabilities.<br />
Retailers can also assist<br />
with such promotions as<br />
FACE’s T-shirt sales. Plus, they<br />
can use their voices and networks<br />
to get the message out to<br />
parents and booster groups.<br />
Most involved retailers have<br />
huge music education programs<br />
and solid relationships<br />
with community leaders. And<br />
dealers can also contribute<br />
financially to FACE.<br />
This year, vendors helped<br />
with a bridge loan that covered<br />
the initial cost of services for<br />
arts advocate John Benham,<br />
who prepared a 158-page<br />
report illustrating how program<br />
cuts have cascading longterm<br />
ramifications on music<br />
education. The FACE boosters<br />
repaid the loan by selling the<br />
T-shirts and raising donations<br />
throughout the year.<br />
As a retail vendor, I served<br />
as a liaison between FACE and<br />
the Support <strong>Music</strong> Coalition, a<br />
partnership between NAMM<br />
and MENC. The fact that I’m<br />
part of the Support <strong>Music</strong><br />
Coalition, have worked closely<br />
with NAMM on its Washington<br />
advocacy fly-ins and serve on<br />
FACE’s steering committee<br />
made communications accurate<br />
and fast. Again, communication<br />
is paramount.<br />
It’s important to understand<br />
how much NAMM can help<br />
local community advocates. It<br />
was NAMM, for instance, that<br />
suggested FACE work with<br />
John Benham. NAMM also provided<br />
support materials, namely<br />
the Community Action Kit.<br />
This gave FACE everything it<br />
needed to jump-start its advocacy<br />
movement, including<br />
guidelines for advocacy proce-<br />
dures and public service<br />
announcement materials.<br />
COMPLACENCY, BEGONE<br />
I<br />
recently asked Roger<br />
Tomhave, FACE’s founder, if<br />
he had any disappointments<br />
this year, despite our success.<br />
“During the budget fight,<br />
after each small success, advocates<br />
tend to think that the job<br />
is done, and they can begin to<br />
relax and fall off, but the job is<br />
not done until the final budget<br />
decisions are made,” he said.<br />
In other words, there’s no<br />
room for complacency. You<br />
might have convinced the<br />
school board, but you still have<br />
to convince the board of supervisors.<br />
When that’s done, you<br />
have to make sure the school<br />
board appropriates the funding.<br />
As Tomhave says, advocacy is<br />
never a one-time, one-shot deal.<br />
Let me leave you with a staggering<br />
statistic. Since its inception,<br />
FACE has preserved more<br />
than 300 positions and more<br />
than $30 million in proposed<br />
cuts to Fairfax County public<br />
schools. That’s genuine success.
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