1. Music and the Arts in an Era of Cutbacks
By Eben Goresko

2. Music and the Arts in an Era of Cutbacks
A White Paper on Vital Advocacy
By Eben Goresko
Why do music advocates need a new transformational approach?
We need a new transformational approach to music advocacy because, despite
recent accomplishments, the status quo will not suffice. In this document I will
consider the following questions:
 Why “music and the arts?”
 Who are music advocates and what do they do?
 Where do we stand with current music advocacy in an era of cutbacks?
 What does our current advocacy entail? What are our successes and
challenges?
 Why do we need a new approach? Where is our advocacy weak, and
what can we do to strengthen it?
 What would be entailed in such an approach? What is a cognitive policy,
and why is it important?
Why “music and the arts”?
In the title of this white paper I refer to “Music and the Arts” and then go on to
refer only to music. However, many of the ideas and principles I refer to can also
be applied to advocating for the arts in general, including fine arts, sculpture, and
dance. Because the “arts” are often thought of as “culture,” it is important to note
this distinction and clarification before we proceed.
Who are music advocates and what do they do?
Music advocates can be anyone in the music field.
They can be world famous or regionally renowned musicians. They can be
professionals: administrators and fundraisers working for organizations, schools,
orchestras, or bands. They can be music teachers, business people, piano and
musical instrument dealers, or professionals “once removed” from music.
Parents advocate for their children, educators advocate for music in schools,
piano tuners advocate for music to their clients and encourage them to continue
to engage in piano ownership.

3. Many organizations piggyback upon all those mentioned above and work to
broaden their efforts: NAMM, MTNA, PTG and others.
Where do we stand with music advocacy in an era of cutbacks?
Music continues to be an easy target for budget slashers and those who seek to
reduce the costs of or even eliminate public education in favor of privatization.
The arts also continue to be viewed as an optional, nonessential add-on for
children’s education and as a low-priority discretionary expense for our
communities.
Those who argue in favor of reducing or eliminating public support and
expenditures for the arts tend to focus solely on their costs instead of their
benefits. Music and arts advocates have with some success countered budget-
slashing policies and proposals with scientific research and data that clearly
show the benefits of supporting the arts.
What does our current advocacy entail? What are our successes and
challenges?
Our successes:
 A vast body of credible and revealing scientific studies substantiating
benefits is available for advocates to draw on
 Credible and compelling videos make a strong case for the arts
 Creativity is increasingly recognized as important, and consequently
emphasized
 Sophisticated sales, political, and fundraising strategies give advocates
more tools to use
 Comprehensive resources and organizational tools also support advocacy
 Many music-advocacy organizations have grown
Our challenges:
 Budget cuts continue and are increasing exponentially. Despite great
improvements in our ability to fight for music and the arts, the challenges
that we face in today’s economic environment continue to increase
disproportionately to our current ability to offset them.
 The fate of public support and commitment to funding the arts and music
in our culture continues to hang by a thread, regardless of which political
party is driving the agenda.

4. Why do we need a new approach? Where is our advocacy weak, and what
can we do to strengthen it?
 Advocates tend to over-rely on a sales approach
 Advocates tend to over-rely on scientific studies
 Advocates face a quantity vs. quality problem and tend to over-rely on
sheer numbers of advocates and advocacy organizations to get the job
done instead of developing a solid, consistent policy
 We lack a coherent cognitive policy
What is a cognitive policy, and why is it important?
A new generation of music advocacy must include a cognitive policy.
Cognitive policy isn’t salesmanship
It is easy to confuse cognitive policy with salesmanship. At first glance, it appears
that the goal of both is to influence or sway people into changing their thinking
and views about an issue, product, service or an idea.
In fact, cognitive policy and salesmanship could not be more different. A
salesperson uses laws of influence to eliminate emotional and psychological
barriers that inhibit a prospective buyer’s purchase and ownership of a product,
service or an idea.
The main dynamic operating in sales is the assumption that to own something we
have to give something up. Usually we give up money in exchange for valued
benefits.
It is easy to see why many advocates view promoting music as a task of ramping
up their advocacy “salesmanship.” But salesmanship is not sufficient to offset
continuing trends.
So how is cognitive policy different from sales? As opposed to influence,
cognitive policy is about the frame. Otherwise referred to as framing, or re-
framing, cognitive policy is about changing people’s brains, about changing the
way they think. In the case of music advocacy, we want to change the way our
culture prioritizes and financially supports music and the arts.
Our goal should be nothing less than an essential and fundamental change in the
mindset of our whole culture. An enormous transformation can be accomplished
through cognitive policy.

5. Cognitive policy – a few framing facts
 Every human thinks and understands everything through frames
 Frames are physiological and cognitive structures that have evolved in our
brains to organize our cognition
 Frames have evolved in our brains over hundreds of thousands of years
 Framing experts have worked tirelessly over the recent decades and
continue to impose frameworks upon us
 The current dominant framework affects every aspect of our thinking, our
culture, the way we live and, most importantly, our values
 Those who are most adept at framing—often political campaigns—are
those who usually succeed in applying their viewpoint
 Frames are administered through language, the gateway to our minds
 If we do not understand what framing is, how it works, and how we must
learn to re-frame our aims, we will continue to be bound by the frame that
is imposed upon us
 We can individually become proficient and even expert at recognizing how
frames are imposed—but . . .
 Until we can collectively and effectively re-frame our values we will
continue to roll the ball uphill against the dominant frame
The current frame has specific language we deal with all the time. But there is
more to re-framing than language.
Framing experts know how to expertly wield language. They also know how to
meld a cleverly crafted political strategy into language that galvanizes our
emotions and fears.
I would suggest that any and all of us who make a living through music, the arts,
or education, directly or indirectly, peer into the face of the current frame on a
regular basis without giving it much thought. That is one of the things that must
begin to change.
Scientific studies are great, but . . .
 Too much data can be overwhelming to absorb and process
 The empirical scientific approach reinforces an outdated Enlightenment
model of thinking
 Scientific studies lack a cognitive foundation
Myriad advocacy organizations are great, but . . .
Quantity is not quality. With the proper skills we can make a huge difference.
Without them we can only realize underwhelming success.

6. Where to begin
 On an individual level, developing awareness and skills
 On a group level, developing further skills and a collective vision
 On an organizational level, developing policy and strategies
The fields of music and the arts already have to some extent the structure and
resources to begin anew.
So where can you begin? Read my book “The Dawn of Music” and subscribe to
my newsletter at http://blogs.piano-tv.com for ongoing information that can help
you renew and transform your music education efforts for the better!