Grassroots Advocacy Guide

As a parent, a community member or business owner, your voice must be heard to influence school budget and curriculum decisions to assure all children have access to music education.  This action kit helps parents and community members influence support for music education in schools.  It will guide you in communicating with school board members and administrators, who are the decision makers for every local district and who are influenced by the interests of the local population. It will also guide you to activities and resources for music education advocacy on state and federal levels as part of national music education advocacy efforts.

Advocating for music education is not complicated; the information provided in this kit can get you started, and there are tools to help your efforts – press release templates, meeting presentations, sample advocacy letters and more. Adapt the materials to your local situation and use them in your day-to-day efforts.  Become a music advocate today and help ensure a high-quality education for all children.

The SupportMusic Community Action Kit is a free community resource developed and
supported by NAMM, the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM). Editors gratefully
acknowledge the guidance and contributions of Dr. John Benham, Michael Blakeslee, Dr. Karl
Bruhn, Joel Dallow, Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser, Joan Schmidt, Laurie Schopp, Scott Schoeffel and
April Wainwright. The SupportMusic Coalition is united to advance a high-quality education that
includes music and arts instruction for every child. To become a SupportMusic Coalition affiliate Join Here.