Students advocated for the funding of high school band programs by writing letters to members of Congress on Friday. “Music Advocation,” hosted by Kappa Kappa Psi: National Honorary Band Fraternity and the Collegiate National Association for Music Education, brought people together on the steps of the Gorgas Library to write these letters and listen to music.
Alongside the letter writing, college band 8 A Day played covers from rock bands, Radiohead’s “Creep” being one of the songs played. In a post on Instagram, the band said they helped raise over $300 for Hale County High School .
Sarah Beth Black, the vice president of the Collegiate National Association for Music Education said the idea for this event started during a budget meeting.
“We had to put in a section for advocation in our budget which we’ve never had to do before because of the funding cuts from the government,” Black said.
Black wanted to create an event where donations could be made and information about the programs funding the arts and education, such as Title 1, would be distributed. For Black, the main goal of Music Advocation was to spread awareness about “funding in general.”
“For people to understand that the arts in general are getting cut from us, and if we don’t keep funding, programs are gonna start collapsing and folding,” Black said.
Black hopes that this event is only the beginning and that the advocacy for the arts will continue to grow from here.
“I think the more voices that we can get, the more notice they’ll get. And so, I’m hoping that whatever we do here it’s just gonna keep snowballing, and we can get a real change,” Black said.
Brock Panzeri, a membership candidate of Kappa Kappa Psi, said participating in band helped him find his path in life.
“Band is where I found my passion. It was where I found ‘Hey, I want to do this for the rest of my life.’ It’s where I want to settle my career,” Panzeri said.
Abigael Christensen, a member of Kappa Kappa Psi, hopes that the letters written at the event will reach the members of Congress, and if they don’t, that other letters will.
“There are several events encouraging this. So even if it’s not our specific letters, any letter that reaches them is good, and I hope it does,” Christensen said.
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