Arts Advocacy Spotlight: Katy Brodhead, Lisa Vartanian & Dennis Argul

Lisa Vartanian NJMEA President-Elect

Dennis Argul NJMEA Advocacy Chair

“Research shows that when music education is provided as part of the core curriculum, students have more motivation for school and experience an increase for both their self-confidence and their capacity to learn.” https://etmcolorado.org/

Traveling around the state this year, I’ve had opportunities to meet some of the most amazing and inspiring music educators. These individuals have given me motivation to continue the work of increasing music participation for our students in New Jersey. They also provide all of us with important lessons about how best to reach the goal of universal access to a high-quality arts education.

In the fall, I attended a young people's concert hosted by the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. It was a wonderful event, and it was made even better because it provided me with the opportunity to meet Katy Brodhead. Katy has been working in Newark Public Schools for 10 years, first as a music teacher (PreK-8) and currently as the district’s Supervisor of Visual and Performing Arts. In addition to her supervisory role, Katy serves as urban liaison for Region 1 of the New Jersey School Music Association.

As urban liaison, Katy is responsible for advancing good ideas for increasing the participation of underserved students in music education in her region. I wanted to learn more about this important work, so I sat down with Katy for a brief interview at the NJMEA convention in February. The interview helps shine a light on the incredible work Katy is doing and provides ideas for replicating the urban liaison role in other areas across our state.

Many thanks to Dennis Argul for introducing me to the excellent work Katy is doing and collaborating with me on this article.

Brodhead: We know that music festivals and similar events can have a significant impact on our students’ lives, increasing their ability level, getting them excited to practice and perform, exposing them to other students across the state, and preparing them for future musical opportunities. All students, no matter their socioeconomic status, should have access to them.

As a teacher, however, I experienced many challenges getting my students to participate in events like these. In some cases, families couldn’t afford to pay the fees or didn’t have the means to drive students to the events. When I was able to get through those obstacles, I saw that students from North Jersey’s largest school districts—Newark, Jersey City, Paterson—were underrepresented and, in some cases, completely unrepresented.

During the 2018 NJSMA Elementary Honors Band Festival, I asked Past President Joseph Spina how I could help get more students involved from these urban school districts. That one question led to a great conversation resulting in Mr. Spina creating the NJSMA Urban Liaison position. The Urban Liaison mission statement states it very clearly. My role is to “increase diverse student participation in NJSMA regional music ensembles by identifying systemic obstacles and generating solutions for students from low socioeconomic backgrounds so that all students have access to music-making opportunities.”

Brodhead: The opportunities are huge. Cities often

have local community organizations and programs that are willing to support the arts. In Newark, we are fortunate to work closely with partners such as the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, and Save the Music Foundation. One of my favorite aspects about working in a large city is that I am part of a community of music educators who are supported by the director of the Office of Visual and Performing Arts, Margaret El, and our superintendent, Roger León. Our district has 90 music teachers and we have joint professional development sessions with time to collaborate. I am so fortunate to be able to work with such a large group of excellent music educators, supportive administrators, and our brilliant and talented students and their families.

But the challenges are many. Underserved communities definitely face disadvantages that we continue to work through. Across the North Jersey region, common challenges include a lack of instruments and supplies, higher teacher-student ratios, school schedules that don’t support sequential music instruction, and lack of access to private lessons for students.

Brodhead: I have to celebrate the work that our NJSMA Board is doing to support the initiatives we put in place thus far. This year, we were able to translate all of our regional applications into Spanish (and will be continuing to add more languages to the list). We also are offering fee waivers for students who meet the criteria. And, for those students who need it, we have been able to provide free transportation to get to auditions and rehearsals. We are currently working with Montclair State University for students to have master classes at their high schools and are partnering with organizations that donate refurbished instruments. The NJSMA Board, under the leadership of President Diana May, is excited to share that we had a significant number of high school students who were able to participate this year in regional auditions due to fee waivers and transportation support.1

Brodhead: We are looking to build knowledge of the programs we’ve already put in place so that more students across the North Jersey region can take advantage of them. We are also excited to be working with Wayne Mallette, Region 2 President, who is interested in implementing similar initiatives so that we can continue to provide access to more music students across the state.

In other steps, we want to start partnerships with state organizations and universities to help our high school students gain access to small group and private lessons, so they have more support to prepare for regional, state, and college auditions. Our region is also looking to build on the amazing work that teachers like Libby Gopal of East Orange School District are doing to provide professional development sessions geared toward teachers in underserved communities. We’re adding more urban/rural workshops on our June 1 Membership Day. (This is a special professional development day for our NJSMA members). These workshops are being led by some of the fantastic urban/rural educators from across our region.

In Fall 2020, we will add a guitar festival and a “nontraditional” ensemble program to highlight the music that students from all communities across North Jersey are making outside of band, orchestra and choir.

And that’s just the start of it. During the NJMEA Convention, I was able to meet with many outstanding music educators currently teaching in low-income communities. I received great feedback from the workshops, and we are excited to continue to expand our offerings for the next school year.

Congratulations to Katy and all of the other outstanding music educators across New Jersey who are helping their students learn the joy of music.

If you can join us at the following meet-ups, RSVP to Katy. All are welcome!

NJSMA Region 1 Urban/Rural Meet-Up – Saturday, May 16th Location: TBD NJSMA Region 2 Urban/Rural Meet-Up - Friday, May 15th Location: TBD

Dennis Argul at dennisargul@gmail.com Katy Brodhead at urban@njsma.com Lisa Vartanian at lvartanian@paramusschools.org

1 Free/reduced lunch students are able to get all North Jersey audition and participation fees waived by completing a fee waiver form when submitting their applications. This form also has an option for students to request support with transportation to/from regional events.