PLAN AHEAD AND NEVER MISS A COALITION CALL!

MARK YOUR CALENDARS WITH THESE IMPORTANT DATES! 

2012   

Friday, January 20 - Live from the 2012 NAMM Show,  Anaheim, California

Thursday, March 22   

Tuesday, April 24

Tuesday, May 22

Tuesday, June 19 

Note: In lieu of conference calls, a summer newsletter will be published for the months of July and August 2012.

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Join the SupportMusic Coalition!

The SupportMusic Coalition is building a proactive and unified approach to federal, state and local level advocacy for music education as a core academic subject in schools. The coalition is united in its support of a complete education that includes music and arts instruction for all children. Read the Executive Summary for more information or to join the coalition now fill out the response form and return to supportmusic@namm.org. 

Hear NAMM members and industry leaders Rick Young and Steve West share why they participate - and why you should too! http://www.nammfoundation.org/support-music/please-join-supportmusic-coalition 

          Rick Young                                                 Steve West     

  Senior Vice President                               Chairman of the Board

  Yamaha Corporation of America          West Music 

Our Affiliate Spotlight shines on West Music www.westmusic.com, with six stores in Iowa and western Illinois, is one of the Midwest's leading suppliers of musical instruments, music lessons and instrument repair services. For 70 years, they have helped people experience the power of making music. They advocate to break down barriers to access and funding for school music education programs, and are active members of the Iowa Alliance for Arts Education, Music Achievement Council and the SupportMusic Coalition. West Music has partnerships with local community schools, libraries, children's museums and festivals to assure that music education, participation, and performance activities are visible. In July 2011, they won two awards - Best Ad www.namm.org/summer/2011/articles/best-ad-campaign-west-music-coralville-iowa and Best SupportMusic www.namm.org/summer/2011/articles/supportmusic-award-winner-west-music - in NAMM's annual "100 Best Dealers" campaign.

This month's CounterPoint article, FOCUS ON ADVOCACY: Join The SupportMusic Coalition - It's Good for Business, Builds Community and Helps Protect School Music Programs for Students! It's November and for those of us involved in the education world that generally means a huge sigh of relief. We've all made it through another "back to school" season. Back to school time is not just a busy time for teachers, students and parents, but also for those of us on the business side of things who serve education in our businesses. read more

-- Mark Despotakis is the Director of Market Development at Progressive Music located just outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and is a member of the SupportMusic Coalition Steering Committee. Mark can be reached at mark.despotakis@progressivemusiccompany.com

NAMM is committed to spreading the word to the general public about the fun and benefits of making music through its national Wanna Play? Campaign. Help us spread the word and inspire new music makers by "liking" the Wanna Play By NAMM Facebook page and encouraging your friends and associates to "like" it as well. People who join the page will receive daily posts with inspiring stories about music making and resources to get people started. "Like" the page by clicking here: www.facebook.com/wannaplaybynamm. Also follow the campaign on Twitter at www.twitter.com/wannaplaybynamm.