Advocacy
Dennis Argul
dennisargul@gmail.com
NHFS and ArtsEdNJ – Perfect Together! The National Council of the National Federation of
State High School Associations (NFHS) approved Arts Ed NJ as an NFHS affiliate member. The board of directors for the National Federation for State High School Associations approved Arts Ed NJ’s application to be designated as the NFHS performing arts affiliate for New Jersey. The New Jer- sey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) is the athletics affiliate for the state. The designation allows Arts Ed NJ to provide more sup-
port and resources for performing arts activities, including extracurricular and after school programs, and to advocate on their behalf at the state level and representation at the national level. Arts Ed NJ has been collaborating with the NFHS since
April of 2020, working closely on policies, research, and pub- lications to support performing arts during the pandemic, including support for the International Coalition Perform- ing Arts Aerosol Study at the University of Colorado and University of Maryland. The affiliation inspired the creation of the inaugural New Jersey State Solo and Ensemble Con- test. Additional collaborative initiatives with other NJ based arts education organizations, including coordinated speech and debate, theatre, and educator recognition programs, will be announced in the coming months for the 2021/2022 school year. “The NFHS is very excited to welcome Arts Ed NJ to the
National Federation of State High School Associations,” stated Dr. James Weaver, Director of Performing Arts and Sports at the NFHS. “Arts Ed NJ and their leadership has been instrumental on the national level as we navigated the impacts of the global pandemic. The strength of the NFHS comes from its member associations that work together on a national scale to problem solve and tackle the big issues facing performing arts. Arts Ed NJ is a great addition to the NFHS and we look forward to working together.”
TEMPO 26
For this issue of Tempo and the Advocacy article, I in-
terviewed Dr. James Weaver and Bob Morrison, Director of Arts Ed NJ, to discuss this affiliation and how it will impact music education in the state moving forward.
What is the National Federation of High School Associa- tions?
JW: The NFHS has been around since 1921. We are the national organization that works with state high school activ- ity programs and helps them with rule creation, standardized contest formations, we nationally oversee high school activity pro- grams with our 51 state high school organizations and our 20 other affiliate organizations, with about 12 million plus students that are involved in high school activity programs across the US. We rely on our state association members to be the driving force of what’s best in their state, but we provide the resources that help them become as successful as they can be.
Bob, how did you come to work with the NFHS? BM: It actually started on a webinar. The webinar when
I first met James was on the webinar that was put together in preparation for the “What Now and How?” webinar that Music for All put on. I had been familiar with the Federation over the years and in my work previously with Music for All, but they haven’t historically been as active as they are now. I think we’ve seen a visible uptick in their activity in the music and arts space, especially since James came on. I learned about what they were doing with the aerosol study and heard some of the preliminary findings. I found his was really important work they were doing and wanted to know what we can do to support it. As a result, we were a contributor financially to the aerosol study because we thought it was so important and from that just started sharing information about what we were working on in NJ because at that time we were just standing up our September Ready Task Force and really getting under the hood of all the great informa- tion and guidance that they were putting and out seeing what was happening in some of the other areas. Through those con-
MAY 2021
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