Advocacy
NYSSMA Government Relations & Advocacy Committees

Dear NYSSMA Members:
I am pleased to announce that, at this time, Your Government Relations and Advocacy Committees are moving forward with Music in Our Schools Month plans as always, and that the 48th Annual/First Virtual Joseph R. Sugar NYSSMA Day in Albany. will take place on Monday, March 1, 2021. Please be clear about this:the entire event will take place in a virtual format.We will be utilizing Zoom Plus for our virtual meetings.
Here are instructions on how to proceed with getting ready for our virtual Day in Albany.
- First, identify the person in your Zone, County or district who normally makes your in-person Albany appointments during normal years.
- Identify the New York Legislators who represent your area. Please have your team leader contact those Legislators, remind their offices that March is Music in Our Schools and ask them for a March 1, 2021 Zoom meeting appointment for your Albany advocacy team. We would like these meetings to take place on March 1st, but in these difficult times, if the Legislative meeting has to be scheduled on another day, please make that appointment.
- Once appointments have been made, please click on this Google Form link to let me know when your meeting is scheduled and with whom. Here is the link: https://forms.gle/UAgyB3Sv8Qkgop5Y7
- If you have any trouble accessing the form through this digital link, here is a form link you can copy into your browser, fill out, attach to and send to us via email so that we can input your data manually: https://www.nyssma.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/2021-Day-in-Albany-website-update-2.pdf
- Time is of the essence. This information was sent out to County Presidents and Zone reps at the end of January, and asked that all appointments be made and sent to us by February 5th. If you haven’t received this information please make these appointments as soon as possible and get us the appointment information.
- Once appointments are made, we will provide you with your own Zoom Plus account. Team leaders will be given their own Personal Meeting ID, and can use the Zoom account to schedule meetings (go to Meetings, Click Schedule a Meeting) which will create Zoom Meeting Invitations. While sometimes hard to find, once the meeting is scheduled there is a tab on the right side of the page which allows you to copy the invitation information. This invite then gets emailed to your Legislator’s office and to all members of your team. If you have been making Zoom meetings this will be easy. If you have not and there are ANY questions or problems, please contact me personally at 631-365-3763 and we will go over it human to human to facilitate all these Virtual/digital plans
- Ask Sheets and information will be made available by February 19th. We are also working on a video link, produced by your Advocacy Executive Board, which can function as a template for how to run the Zoom meetings once you are actually online with your Legislator’s office.
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I realize this is not as easy as always, but with “all hands on deck”, we can make the 48th Joseph R. Sugar NYSSMA Day in Albany and Music in Our Schools Month as important as it has always been. Remember, what started here in New York as Music in Our Schools Day became Music in our Schools Week, then, Music in Our Schools Month and is now celebrated in all 50 states and Europe. We NYSSMA members have much to be proud of when we think that what we created 48 years ago has grown into such an amazing, important Political and Advocacy tool.
Thanks,
Alan Orloff
Government Relations Committee Chairman
“Embracing Music Education for a Lifetime”!
3 Letter-to-Governor-in-regard-to-Athletics-and-12-Feet-for-Music
NYSSMA MUSIC EDUCATION ADVOCACY
Music Advocacy Links
- American Music Conference
- Americans for the Arts
- Presidents Committee On Arts and Humanities
- Arts Edge
- Support Music
- NAfME
- Music Friends
President Barack Obama Arts Video
Related Links
Related Documents
- How To Interview a School Board Official or Elected Officer (PDF – 76 kB)
- Conditions That Support Music Education: How Does Your School District Rate? (PDF – 84 kB)
- What To Do When Music Program Cuts Are Threatened (PDF – 84 kB)
- What Do You Need to Know to Advocate For Music Education? (PDF – 8 kB)
- How Does Music Education Impact Student Learning (PDF – 53 kB)
- Advocacy Tidbits for Music Educators (PDF – 131 kB)
- NYSSMA APPR Framed (PDF – 702 kB)
- 2012 NYSSMA Advocacy Handbook (PDF – 326 kB)
Related Documents
- 3 Letter-to-Governor-in-regard-to-Atheltics-and-12-Feet-for-Music (PDF – 150 KB)
- 2 Asks2021 (PDF – 5 MB)
- 1 VirtualSchedule2021 (DOCX – 16 KB)
- 2021 Day in Albany website update 2 (PDF – 73 KB)
- NYSSMA MIOSMPoster (PDF – 11 MB)
- NYSSMA MIOSMPoster (PDF – 11 MB)
- SenBill5770 (PDF – 2 MB)
- A9660 Arts and Music Education (PDF – 3 KB)
- Albany Packet (PDF – 5 MB)
- Alan’s Albany Tips 2020 (PDF – 5 MB)
- Alan’s Albany Tips 2020 (PDF – 5 MB)
- 10 Tips for Visits (PDF – 452 KB)
- NYSSMAWhoWeAre (PDF – 2 MB)
- Asks2020 (PDF – 3 MB)
- 2020 Schedule (PDF – 2 MB)
- 2019 Schedule page scan (PDF – 2 MB)
- AlbanyInformationPack (PDF – 16 MB)
- AlbanyPacket2018 (PDF – 16 MB)
- CntyPresInvt (PDF – 1 MB)
- MUSIC IN OUR SCHOOLS MONTH – 2018 schedule (DOCX – 75 KB)
- 2018DIASched (PDF – 2 MB)
- tier-finance-info (PDF – 2 MB)
- 2017-talking-points (PDF – 7 MB)
- nafmetierinfo (PDF – 2 MB)
- 2017mbrspkt200 (PDF – 4 MB)
- essafacts (PDF – 1 MB)
- 2017 Albany Invite draft (DOC – 28 KB)
- 2017DIAscheddrft (DOC – 21 KB)
- How To Interview a School Board Official or Elected Officer (PDF – 76 KB)
- Conditions That Support Music Education: How Does Your School District Rate? (PDF – 84 KB)
- What To Do When Music Program Cuts Are Threatened (PDF – 84 KB)
- What Do You Need to Know to Advocate For Music Education? (PDF – 8 KB)
- How Does Music Education Impact Student Learning (PDF – 53 KB)
- Advocacy Tidbits for Music Educators (PDF – 131 KB)
- NYSSMA APPR Framed (PDF – 702 KB)
- 2012 NYSSMA Advocacy Handbook (PDF – 326 KB)