Advocacy & Collaboration Monthly Blog Post: A Focus Issue Overview

Hello choral colleagues! We’ve been “teasing” the release of our Advocacy and Collaboration focus issue in the Choral Journal all summer and are thrilled you now have them in your mailboxes (and online)! For this month’s blog post, we wanted to share a little about where the focus issue’s structure came from and a little history of our committee. Please keep in mind there are openings to join the team – applications are open until mid November. Check out more here, including role expectations and how to apply. 

Now for this month’s blog post, an excerpt from the Letter from the Guest Editor and Letter from Volume 65, Number 3 of the Choral Journal (October 2024):

We are thrilled to present this Advocacy and Collaboration focus issue to you! It’s been something we’ve worked on for over a year with YOU in mind. Before we dive in, who are we, why do we exist, what do we do?

In 2017, ACDA changed its organizational structure to include standing committees that could serve membership on the day-to-day tasks (instead of just at annual regional or national conferences). In this issue, we advocate for those fellow standing committees by providing a space for you to get to know who they are, what they do, and how they can support you! That’s basically Advocacy and Collaboration in a nutshell – we help connect, communicate, and create opportunities for our community to continue impacting our world with the power of choral music! How? Seriously, so glad you asked! Check out our mission statement:

ACDA Advocacy Statement

The human spirit is elevated to a broader understanding of itself and its place in the world through the study of and participation in choral music. Singing in a choir produces more active and involved citizens. It affects self-worth in youth and adults.  It builds connectivity throughout communities.  Society benefits from the aesthetic beauty and community of singers created by choral programs within schools, houses of worship, and community organizations through involved citizenry, connectivity throughout communities, and feelings of personal self-worth.

The American Choral Directors Association and its membership resolve to ensure the survival of choral programs for this and future generations by

• actively voicing support for funding at local, state, and national levels of education and government 
• collaborating with local and national organizations to ensure the distribution of arts funding data and arts-related activism opportunities
• advocating for full access to choral singing and inclusion of all singers in a choral program
• ensuring the distribution of advocacy statements and data regarding choral programs

To access the content we’ve curated or reach out to us for help or assistance with your advocacy and collaboration needs, check out acda.org/advocacy or flip to the back of this journal for a quick overview and QR code to the resources. 

Speaking of resources, what lies ahead for you in this journal? We start by addressing the first concern, burnout. You can’t advocate or collaborate if you’re in burnout mode. The articles and columns in the burnout section offer tips, tools, and techniques to overcome and ultimately avoid the dreaded burn out phase. 

Next, we offer definitions of advocacy along with a variety of tools just for you. We should all be practicing “little a” advocating (like sharing stories, sending pictures, or the likes), but we can also find ourselves needing the power of “big A” advocacy (this is the big state and national platforms). We are here to help you get started or take your advocacy or collaborative ideas to the next level. 

Finally, we wrap-up with all things collaboration (don’t tell advocacy, but this is my fav!). Good collaborations are like the best dinner party you’ve ever attended; instead of being told what to bring, you chat beforehand on what would best support all parties and you end up with the most epic, and mutually beneficial spread ever! Not sure what I’m talking about? That’s okay. We have a catalog of ideas and resources from folks doing great things all over the country. 

Curating this issue has been an absolute dream! We’ve spent so much time thinking about you – and quality time is my love language – so it is an honor to share this with you! If you’re tired, if you’re running low on time, if you’re feeling low energy, we hope this issue sparks you. If you’re inspired, excited, and ready, we hope this issue empowers you. And if you’re somewhere in the middle, we hope this issue offers you a resource for any and all future endeavors. 

We can’t wait to see what you do! We are here cheering you on! Check out the full journal here!  

If you need any help, we are here for you! There’s an awesome infographic in the inside back cover of your October 2024 Choral Journal, or check out acda.org/advocacy or instagram.com/acdaadvocacyandcollaboration.  

Dr. Emily Williams Burch chairs ACDA’s Advocacy & Collaboration Committee. Dr. Burch has served in various positions for ACDA at the state, regional, national level in a variety of roles, including co-programming chair and honor choir coordinator for the Southern Region ACDA conferences since 2014. You can subscribe to her podcast, “Music (ed) Matters” wherever you get your podcasts, on Youtube, or at EmilyBurch.org/podcast.