Press Release - Ricky Skaggs, Janis Ian, Suzy Boggus, Keith Lockhart, Donny Osmond, and Lalah Hathaway are Among the Musical Stars Answering the Question "Why Music?" in PSA Series Produced by MENC: The National Association for Music Education

Ricky Skaggs, Janis Ian, Suzy Boggus, Keith Lockhart, Donny Osmond, and Lalah Hathaway are Among the Musical Stars Answering the Question "Why Music?" in PSA Series Produced by MENC: The National Association for Music Education

Top Country, Pop, Jazz and Classical Artists Explain the Importance of Music Education in Award-Winning PSA Series to Air During Music In Our Schools Month^® 2006

Reston, VA (February 14, 2006) ” MENC: The National Association for Music Education will release a new series of radio public service announcements to coincide with the year™s biggest celebration of music education, Music In Our Schools Month (MIOSM^®), in March 2006. This series, Why Music?, features top country, pop, jazz, and classical musicians talking about the value and importance of music education. Compact discs of the pop and country versions of the series will be distributed to more than 1000 adult contemporary stations, more than 1000 country stations, and 30 radio networks.

New artists joining the lineup for MIOSM 2006 are: Ricky Skaggs, Suzy Boggus, Keith Lockhart, Janis Ian, Donny Osmond, and Lalah Hathaway. Also featured are Darius Rucker, Gloria Estefan, Vanessa Williams, Roger McGuinn, Bonnie Raitt, Isaac Hayes, Lee Ann Womack, Faith Hill, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Tim McGraw, Chely Wright, and Vince Gill, among many others. (The complete list is posted at www.menc.org/resources/view/why-music-radio-psa-series.) Each PSA is sixty seconds long and features an artist talking about the importance of music education for today's youth or a personal experience he or she had with music in school.

The PSAs are part of MENC™s unceasing efforts to keep music programs strong in America™s schools. "MENC™s mission is to advance music education by encouraging the study and making of music by everyone," said John J. Mahlmann, MENC™s executive director. "Messages from well-regarded celebrities can significantly raise the public™s awareness of the positive effect music education has on kids."

MENC™s previous MIOSM series, aired in March 2005, generated more than 172 million verified gross impressions. "Music is intrinsically valuable on its own, of course," continued Mahlmann, "but it doesn™t hurt, at a time when school budgets are so tight, to spread the word about the ways learning it can be beneficial to students. For instance, research seems to indicate that learning music can improve SAT scores, increase spatial I.Q., and decrease disciplinary problems."

MENC releases Why Music? twice a year ” in March to coincide with Music In Our Schools Month, and in September as children head "Back to School." The most recent "Back to School" PSAs, sent to 2000 radio stations and networks, generated more than 205 million verified gross impressions over two weeks in September 2005.

Why Music? has been the recipient of several prestigious communications awards, including the Communications Concepts 2003 Apex Award for Publication Excellence, League of American Communications Professionals 2002 Magellan Awards Publicity Campaign Competition Bronze Award for Community Relations, and The Communicator Awards 2002 Audio Competition Crystal Award of Excellence. In addition, MENC was awarded Honorable Mention in the PR News 2002 Platinum PR Awards for PSA Campaign, and the 2001 Bronze Anvil Award for Best Radio Public Service Announcement by the Public Relations Society of America. Most recently, the campaign was awarded "honors" in the public service announcements category by the 2003 Mercury Awards, an international competition honoring outstanding achievement in professional communications.

Wolf Trap, America™s National Park for the Performing Arts (www.wolftrap.org), located in Vienna, VA, facilitated the participation of Janis Ian and Keith Lockhart. For more information, or for an MENC press kit, contact Elizabeth Lasko at MENC, 703-860-4000, or by e-mail at elizabethl@menc.org. MENC™s Web site is www.menc.org.

MENC: The National Association for Music Education, the world™s largest arts education organization, is the only association that addresses all aspects of music education. Nearly 120,000 members represent all levels of teaching from preschool to graduate school. Since 1907, MENC has worked to ensure that every student has access to a well-balanced, comprehensive, and high-quality program of music instruction taught by qualified teachers. MENC™s activities and resources have been largely responsible for the establishment of music education as a profession, for the promotion and guidance of music study as an integral part of the school curriculum, and for the development of the National Standards for Arts Education.

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