Music for One, Music for All

Music for All LogoMusic for All is one of the nation’s largest music education organizations in support of active music making. Their mission? To create, provide, and expand life-changing experiences through music (you guessed it) for all. They advocate that music and arts education is core to students’ education and should be available to all students, with programs that support the efforts of instrumental music teachers on the high school and middle school levels.

Each year, more than 300,000 people attend Music for All events, over 85,000 teens participate, and 100,000 people subscribe to online services. Music for All’s programs include fall marching band Regional and Grand National Championships; The Music for All National Festival, which features the National Concert Band Festival, Orchestra America National Festival, Middle School National Music Festival, Chamber Music National Festival, Sandy Feldstein National Percussion Festival, Honor Band of America, Honor Orchestra of America, and the Jazz Band of America; and the Music for All Summer Symposium, a week-long music camp that draws 1,200 teen music students and teachers from more than 30 states and several countries.  Music for All

“It is hard to choose a favorite event because they are very different,” says Hannah May, Event Coordinator for Music for All. “One favorite is our Grand National Championships which is exciting as it’s the culmination of our fall season, and there are several special events that go on during the championships.”

VolunteerLocal has helped with the registration process, allowing for their musically (and non-musically) inclined volunteers to sign up when best suits them. “VolunteerLocal has been very useful in sharing our volunteer opportunities and logistics to our volunteers,” says May. “It’s great that our registration can be embedded into our website and easily shared. This allows our volunteers to easily register for their own events and shifts that best fit their availability.”  

“VolunteerLocal is available to our volunteers at all times, so they are able to sign up whenever inspiration strikes.”

Feeling inspired? You can learn more about their programs and events on their website.

Music for All

 

Photos courtesy of Music for All

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Rocking Out Like Rockstars with Fahntoosh Enterprises

Last December, VolunteerLocal attended IMFCON, or the International Music Festival Conference. We learned some amazing tips for strategizing and marketing your festival (the weather in San Diego didn’t hurt, either). One of the biggest things we took away is that people don’t go to music festivals just to hear Justin Bieber or Nicki Minaj – they go for the experience.

Fahntoosh Logo

Fahntoosh Enterprises is working to provide just that. Austin-based and female-owned, the company is made up of event specialists who strive to make the music scene accessible and enjoyable for all attendees, with a focus on offering services to patrons with disabilities.

Cari Wieland, President and CEO of Fahntoosh Enterprises, started out as a team of one. Wieland began working with C3 Presents, managing various festivals’ Access Programs. As the number of festivals increased, so did Wieland’s team. She now works with a diverse and experienced group of festival lovers, passionate about making music experiences accessible for all.

Fahntoosh Enterprises volunteersRepresented mainly at large, outdoor multi-day music festivals, Fahntoosh Enterprises provides  patrons with reserved viewing platforms, an Access Center, a dedicated Access email to answer questions before, during, and after the event, American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation, assistive listening devices, and programs/information in large print and braille.

“VolunteerLocal has allowed us to contact people we would have never reached previously.” – Cari Wieland, President and CEO of Fahntoosh Enterprises

These needs can often be overlooked, but are necessary to ensure that events provide all festival-goers the experience of a lifetime. One of Wieland’s favorite festivals is Bonnaroo, where Fahntoosh Enterprises provides the RFID scan staff management.

Fahntoosh Access CenterBefore using VolunteerLocal, Wieland and her team would create separate scheduling spreadsheets in Excel or Google Docs for each event, and recruit through social media, neither of which were very effective. “VolunteerLocal is great because the volunteers can pick their own shifts,” says Wieland. “The ability to share the link with others is great, too. We love being able to send out emails to all of the volunteers.”

Here at VolunteerLocal, we think everyone deserves rockstar treatment. Learn how you can help enhance the experience for all festival-goers here.

 

Photos courtesy of Fahntoosh Enterprises

 

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