Seth Williams, Advocacy Coordinator for Music for All

Marketing Music Education with Kathleen Heuer

On today’s podcast, I sit down with Seth Williams of Music for All. Well, he WAS with Music for All when we talked, anyway—now he’s attending law school!

Seth Williams is the former Advocacy Coordinator for Music for All. Seth has been involved with Music for All and its programs for nearly ten years – as a participant, volunteer, event staff, intern and full-time staffer. He recently relocated to Los Angeles, where he attends UCLA School of Law. Seth is an active advocate for music education and the arts. While at MFA, he curated advocacy content, represented Music for All in the state and national arts advocacy community and developed new advocacy and awareness initiatives for the organization.

Here are the highlights of my conversation with Seth Williams:

0:52 Meet Seth!

1:25 Advocacy: Music for All’s vision

2:05 A typical day for Seth in the Music for All office

2:48 The digital tools he depends on

4:17 Advocacy isn’t just sending letters or attending rallies

5:44 The importance of new media in advocacy

6:20 The case for blogging

7:46 Proactive vs. reactive advocacy

8:19 The importance of attending school board meetings—before issues arise

10:20 How parents can make a difference on local, state and national levels

11:59 Recruiting volunteers the MFA way (and following Fran Kick’s advice!)

12:51 Volunteer burnout

13:12 Matching volunteers’ skills to tasks

13:36 Parent recognition

14:47 Seth’s alma mater

15:17 Fundraising: “Any idea is worth trying once.”

16:15 A creative fundraiser that’s successful on several levels

17:43 Seth gets the last word

Resources

Fanfare: the weekly advocacy blog post Seth curated for Music for All

Advocacy websites Seth recommends:

• SupportMusic.com
• nammfoundation.org
• namm.org
• http://blog.artsusa.org/
• http://www.americansforthearts.org/
• http://onevoice.pta.org/
• groundswell.nafme.org
• http://www.ed.gov/blog/
• http://standforthearts.com/

This is a good way to find state advocates: http://www.americansforthearts.org/by-program/networks-and-councils/state-arts-action-network

For news/articles, two of Seth’s favorites are:

• http://www.artsjournal.com/
• http://www.thomascott.com/ – “You’ve Cott Mail”

Volunteering with Music for All

Patrick John Hughes Parent/Booster Award: 2014 nominations due September 15!

Seth’s alma mater: Centerville H.S. (OH)

The creative fundraiser Carmel H.S. (IN) took on

The digital tools Seth mentioned:

• Feedly
• Google alerts
• Buffer

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