Maryland Music Educators Association

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In advocating for any endeavor, knowledge is power. As music teachers, we know the value of our work to children and how its impact can be felt far beyond the classroom. Our lives are busy meeting the responsibilities of what are compelled to do: teach music. The primary goal is to help children become the best musicians possible in the time we can work with them. This task in itself is complex, regardless of the myriad other duties we, as educators, must complete every day.

Advocacy is an important component to any successful program. This is a daily task undertaken by music teachers in the course of their standard duties. We inspire our students to play well so that –

• their parents will be proud and compliment the principal on fine curricular choices,

• the principal will report student and school success to the superintendent,

• the superintendent will allocate money through the school board,

• the school board will work for increased funding by showing the best of their district to

• the education leaders in the state; and most importantly, so that

• our students will be enriched by music in their lives.

This is advocacy and what music teachers do every day they enter classrooms across the state of Maryland to teach young musicians.

The mission of MMEA is to support music teachers in Maryland schools. Advocacy on your behalf is one way of many this objective is pursued. Since every program has different goals and individual needs, the following websites offer ideas and tools to aid in garnering the most support and resources for your music program. These sites cover the state of Maryland, regional, local and state agencies, federal institutions, independent advocacy organizations, MENC, and other groups that provide information to further arts and music education.

This list is by no means comprehensive and is meant to represent a cross-section of organizations and institutions that music educators in Maryland might find useful for their students and programs. Should you see beneficial sites elsewhere or find problems with the links listed, please e.mail the Advocacy Chair at coalition@mmea-maryland.org. Let us know how we can help you!

Maryland Organizations

Maryland State Arts Council <http://www.msac.org>

Maryland Citizens for the Arts <http://www.mdarts.org/>

Arts Education in Maryland Schools Alliance <http://www.aems-edu.org/>

Maryland Public Schools <http://www.marylandpublicschools.org/>

Maryland Association of Boards of Education <http://www.mabe.org/index.php>

School Improvement in Maryland <http://www.mdk12.org/>

State & Regional Arts Advocacy Sites

DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities <http://dcarts.dc.gov/dcarts/site/default.asp>

Virginians for the Arts <http://www.vaforarts.org/>

Arts Delaware <http://www.artsdel.org/>

Pennsylvanians for the Arts <http://www.paarts.org/>