AMEA President-Elect Sara Womack


Advocacy in Action


Author and advocate Peter McWilliams wrote, “If you’re not actively involved in getting what you want, you don’t really want it.” AMEA is truly committed to furthering the state of music education in Alabama and has reenergized our efforts with the formation of a committee to develop a strategic plan for advocacy. We really want music education to make a difference in the lives of Alabama’s children and youth.


The advocacy committee has been working diligently to develop a survey under the leadership of Dr. Carl Hancock. The data received from the survey will help determine our “asks” when promoting music education to local and state officials by providing a more accurate picture of the state of music education in Alabama. Some information


that we will receive includes how many music educators are employed across the state and how many students are not serviced by certified music educators. This knowledge will empower our leadership to identify areas in need of improvement and will lead to a strategic plan for our advocacy efforts. When this survey is distributed in electronic format later this spring, please participate by completing the survey in a timely manner and encourage your colleagues to do the same.


The advocacy committee has also focused their efforts on the creation of an advocacy video with the help of ProCAT A/V. The video, which is available on the AMEA website and YouTube, showcases music programs and music education students from across the state, along with statistics and quotes regarding the benefits of music education. We encourage you to show this video at your performances, utilize the video as a recruiting tool, and email the link to your administration and local school boards. Our first venture into video advocacy was


NAfME Collegiate Dakota Bromley, President


Greetings future educators! I hope that you are all doing very well in all that you do. I can honestly say that the AMEA Conference this past January was a huge step in the right direction for NAfME Collegiate here in Alabama. Ten different universities from across the state were represented, and I sincerely hope that even more get involved with this great organization in the future. Speaking of the future, it looks very bright for this organization. I am very about the entirely new slate of officers that will be running things this next year, and I truly look


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forward to seeing what great things they can do for NAfME Collegiate. I know it is pretty early in the spring to be thinking about summer, but I am sure all you have (I know I have been!). I want to encourage all of you to find some way to further yourselves this summer as future educators. Almost all of our great universities have summer music camps, and there are countless summer music camps across the country that we can all take part in. One of the things I look forward to most every year is being a counselor


at the University of


Montevallo’s Young Musicians’ Camp. It is such a rewarding experience, and one that I hope that all of you can take advantage of, if you have not done so already. The more we work with kids


before we get thrown to the fire in our internships, the less likely we are to be burned! I would like to thank all of you for a great year as your president, and it has truly been an honor to serve you. I would also like to thank Skylar King and Heather Haynes for being great partners on the executive board and Dr. Moya Nordlund for keeping me on my toes this past year. There is also a huge thank you in order for the entire AMEA Executive Board. Thank you for being so supportive of our division, and I eagerly await to see what the future has in store for


this


organization! Thank you again for the opportunity to serve you all this year, and best of luck in all you do in the future!


February/March 2012


a success and I know our future efforts will have a significant impact, as well.


The members of the advocacy committee represent each division of our organization: ABA – Tim Hammond, AOA – Clay McKinney, AVA – Kathy Hughes, Collegiate – Dr. Moya Nordlund, Elementary/General – Dr. Sara Womack, and Higher Education – Brian Vilunas.


Please contact your


representative if you have any ideas or comments regarding our strategic plan for advocacy or if you would like to help with future video projects for music education advocacy. Do you really want Alabama students to benefit from music education? Then, help us do something about it. What can you do to help further AMEA’s purpose and improve music education in our state? Let your representative know if you have an idea to share. Remember the words of Jimi Hendrix, “Music doesn’t lie. If there is something to be changed in this world, then it can only happen through music.”


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