Advocacy News, Action, and Alerts
MENC will soon be posting the statements of 2008 presidential candidates on the issue of music education on our web site!
Recently, MENC sent a letter to all 2008 presidential candidates inquiring as to their views on the upcoming reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act, and on their positions generally, as to the role of music education in our schools. As responses continue to arrive at our Reston headquarters, MENC will begin posting them on a new special section of our web site. Stay tuned for more information!

Donate Money to Music Education While you Shop!
While shopping online, be sure to visit Clubco.com. Clubco.com, a consumer referral e-commerce shopping portal that gives cash rewards back to shoppers, today, announced its partnership with The Foundation House, a library of charities, to launch the Shopping for Abundance Christmas Charity Challenge. By shopping at this site, MENC receives a commission donation at no additional cost to you. The money is then used to further music education!

Get Your MENC Advocacy Brochures!
MENC announces “The Power of Music ... Changing Lives,” our new music education advocacy brochure series! This series of four advocacy brochures is designed for distribution to parents, school board members, elementary school principals and secondary school principals, to give those audiences “the why and the how” of supporting school music education. The entire brochure series is available for download in PDF form at MENC's Music Education Advocacy Central. Additional print copies are available for purchase now at the web site or call 800-828-0229.

For Music Teachers
NEW! Music In Our Schools Month Calendar
MENC introduces a new, interactive MIOSM Advocacy Calendar to enable music educators to share school music advocacy ideas with their colleagues. Help fill the calendar up! Visit the calendar and add your ideas for events, contests, performances and more during Music In Our Schools Month. Members can utilize these ideas for their own celebrations during MIOSM as well as throughout the entire year in efforts to raise awareness of the importance of music education.

Exciting Grant Opportunity!
The NAMM Foundation and Disney Channel launched “Disney’s High School Musical: The Music in You Grant Program” that will allow for middle and high schools across the U.S. to apply for a grant to put on their own school stage production of Disney’s “High School Musical.” This public affairs initiative utilizes the popularity of the “High School Musical” movies and the licensed amateur theater adaptation of it to encourage kids to get involved in music and the arts. The grant program will award ten worthy schools a $5,000 monetary grant and licensing rights for High School Musical. The funds are to support music and arts-related educational costs of the production such as hiring music and dance coaches, and to help schools that do not have sufficient lighting and sound equipment for the production. Schools interested in applying for a grant should visit www.nammfoundation.org to view grant guidelines and apply online. Deadline: November 30, 2007

For Music Students
Honor a Music Educator with a Lowell Mason Fellowship
Designating a Lowell Mason Fellow is an ideal way to recognize an outstanding teacher for his or her impact on a child or community. This high honor is achieved through the $1,000 donation made in the name of each prospective Fellow. These charitable donations support future generations of music educators and may be made by individuals or groups – booster clubs, supportive parents, corporations, universities, foundations, student organizations, etc. – who feel that a candidate has made important contributions to music education. For more information, or to view the list of Fellows, click here.

This Month In Music History …

• November 6, 1814 - Adolphe (Antoine) Sax, the inventor of the saxophone and saxotromba, was born.
• November 13, 1937 - NBC formed the first full-sized symphony orchestra exclusively for radio broadcasting. The conductor for its first 17 years was Arturo Toscanini.
• November 14, 1943 - Leonard Bernstein made his debut with the New York Philhamonic when he filled in for the ailing Bruno Walter prior to a nationally broadcast concert. Bernstein was 25 years old and was an assistant conductor at the time.
• November 29, 1924 - Italian composer Giacomo Puccini died before he could complete his final opera. "Turandot" was finished by Franco Alfano.
• November 30, 1965 - The Colorado state government declared this day to be Rolling Stones Day.