While Music for All is widely known for hosting music education events around the country, it is also one of the premier organizations for music education advocacy. 

The organization is far from the only organization that advocates for the importance of music in our public schools; however, Music for All has created a program dedicated to promoting the different ways communities and programs around the country advocate on their own behalf. 

The Advocacy in Action awards program through Music For All focuses on rewarding and sharing the best practices for advocacy in music education. 

Anyone is invited to nominate their or another community for awards based on one of the listed categories: 

• Decision-maker interaction
• Recruitment and retention
• Community engagement
• Marketing and promotion
• Parent and booster involvement
• Fundraising and sponsorship

Each category is one that not only advocates for their cause but also can help organizations to support themselves locally and by sharing on the national level, allows all groups to benefit. 

The Advocacy in Action site also features examples from top-tier programs that are continually recognized for their musical successes by Music for All, including Carmel High School of Carmel, Indiana, and Broken Arrow High School, of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. 

What’s unique about the program is that it doesn’t focus solely on the political aspects of supporting the arts. It focuses on the development of the community and upon the sustainability of a program through fundraising and student retention. This allows programs to get ideas on how to create a well rounded and supported program. These are hallmarks of any well run extracurricular, music-related or otherwise. 

By putting these best practices into play, administrators can spend less time worrying about tactics and allocate their time and resources to student enrichment instead. 

For more information on Advocacy in Action, head to advocacy.musicforall.org. The nomination process opens on May 1, 2018.