A guide to local campaigning

If there is a threat to your music group and you want to campaign to protect it, this guide explores the tactical and attention grabbing actions you can take. Insights from real experience of effective campaigning by Making Music and our members.

Your music group relies on local services and infrastructure to operate; whether it’s the building you hire for rehearsals, the library you borrow music from, the concert hall, the schools' music service or the bus company your audiences need to get home from your performances. So what do you do when one of those vital elements is under threat? You could shrug and find an alternative – or you could decide to campaign to stop a closure or change that will seriously impact your operations.

This guide has been put together following years of supporting Making Music members in their local campaigning. There is no one route, or easy options. But from working alongside members as they campaign for change – sometimes with great results – we’ve learned what actions are more likely to have the impact you want. If you have any other suggestions to add, get in touch.

Get informed

When you first hear about a change you’re not happy about, it’s tempting to get straight on social media and make a big noise. But taking time to understand the issue fully puts you in a stronger position. You’ll be able to better understand who are the decision makers you need to influence, and what arguments you need to make if you do the research.

Get your facts straight

Seek out independent sources of information to find out what has actually been decided or what the actual proposals are: any official council letters sent on the subject (e.g. planning consultation), the local authority website and your local paper, radio, news website and other local media are useful (if they are trustworthy). Don’t rely on your neighbours or local online chat platforms for facts. But they may point you to where to find the information you need, as well as giving you a good indication whether there are many others who feel as strongly as you do about the issue you are concerned about.

Who is responsible?

Do you fully understand who is responsible for the service or activity under threat? Often it will be your local authority, but as local authority reorganisation progresses in England it may now be a combined authority. Or there may be greater regional devolution in your area with an elected Mayor and other structures. At more local level, it may also be the town or parish council with responsibility for e.g. the local hall or local events. Your local authority website should have a list of all the town and parish councils in your area and their contact details.

However, the hall or service you are looking to protect may also be privately owned or run by an independent charity e.g. a village hall. Nonetheless they may publish information about their plans and/or run consultations, and you could still seek to influence them via their own structures e.g. Board of trustees for a charity or corporate board for a commercial company. Your councillors are elected (and want to be re-elected) to serve you. But charities also need to consider public benefit in their actions. And commercial companies can have established social principles to appeal to; or if the local community are their customers, will your dissatisfaction have an impact on their income?

What is the decision or proposal being put forward?

Finding out about what is actually being proposed or has been decided, means you can target your action properly. If it’s a local authority decision, you should be able to find information on the local authority website.

Local authority decisions are made by committee, so seek out the committee that is responsible. If it is a financial decision, e.g. budget cut for next financial year which will affect the music service; or cut in the library budget, then your best bet are either the cabinet meetings or the full council meetings; sometimes there is also a specific finance committee. Libraries or community music services may come under a committee that could be named anything from 'culture' to 'resident experience'. Some music education decisions are made at local level by the Education committee. Clicking on a committee link usually brings up what areas are covered by it.
Once you’ve decided which committee, cabinet, or council meetings might be the ones responsible, look for the papers for their upcoming meetings and also the minutes and decisions of previous meetings. On the local authority website look for a link called something like 'council and meetings', or 'democracy'. Papers can be well hidden so you may need patience! If the proposal will involve planning permissions, there is often a local authority portal for with all the plans and where you can make comments. Meetings are often recorded, so you may be able to watch the committee meeting where a proposal was made and discussed.
From these papers and recordings, try and understand the reasons a proposal was made: Does the committee agree music is vital, but they’re too cash strapped? Are their plans part of a wider strategy? Did they discuss the impact that cutting or changing a service will have and decide to do it anyway? This will point you in the right direction for framing the debate going forward. Remember the council will have reasons for their decision or proposal, reasons they feel are valid or even unavoidable, so you do need to understand their thinking and arguments as well as you can in order to respond effectively.

If the organisation responsible is privately owned, or run by a voluntary organisation to the public, you might not to be able to access information about decision making. But some may choose to publish plans or even hold consultations and public meetings about the issue, so check their website and social media.

Who has taken or will be taking this decision?

If it’s a local authority decision, find out who the elected representatives (councillors) are who will be responsible for making it.

When you find the relevant committee, find out who is on it. You will find brief biographies, photos, contact details, which wards they represent, parties etc. for all councillors on the council website. Watching videos or live streams of meetings can give you more information and a feel for the personalities and intentions so you can consider who may be best to approach or who may be most supportive.
Find out the names and positions/titles of relevant people. Councillors are referred to as 'members' and the council’s employees are referred to as 'officers'. How do the relevant councillors (members) fit in the democratic structure of the council? Are they in cabinet? Do they hold a particular brief? Do they represent the ward where whatever it is you’re campaigning about is located? And how do the relevant employees (officers), fit into the council staffing structure? These are the key people you will need to influence and work with to achieve change.
Of particular relevance to your campaign will be: the chair of the relevant committee; the relevant portfolio holder in cabinet who has ultimate responsibility for your issue and the council official who has final responsibility for the area of interest to you.
Ignore their political party. It doesn’t matter whether the councillors you need to influence are Labour, Tory, Reform, Lib Dem or Independent – you are about a particular issue. They all want to be re-elected and upsetting a large proportion of their voters is going to stop them being re-elected, whatever their party. Refrain from stating your own party allegiances when talking to them.

What else is going on in the council and in your local area?

What is your council pushing most or is most interested in? Look on the website for a strategic plan or something similar (corporate plan, business objectives). This will tell you what the council has set itself as targets and the areas it most wants to make a difference.
Look also for department strategies e.g. a Culture plan. Departments in councils don’t always work well together e.g. they may have a strategic aim of supporting community music activity, but not connect the fact that closing the library you borrow music from will actually work against that aim. You may need to make these connections for them.

The noisy campaign

Often the first action campaigners take is to get on the internet and into the community to make loud complaint. A noisy campaign is great for drawing attention to an issue, but can be ignored so might have little influence. Use these methods with caution and always as part of a wider, more tactical campaign.

The online petition

Some petitions are an official part of a democratic process, while others are just a way of demonstrating support for an issue and can be discounted by decision makers. There are good uses for both, but make sure you know how to use a petition to have the impact you want and remember that they will not get you a result just on their own.

Online petitions - Sites like Change.org appear regularly on social media feeds but no matter how many signatures you get, decision makers are not obliged to take note of these. When used wisely though, they can be useful in other ways. People do like to share an online petition to feel like they are helping, so it’s a good way to get your message to 'go viral'. You could ask people signing a petition to also sign up to a mailing list and build a campaigning network this way.
Petition government - The UK government has a petitions system, but you need a lot of signatures before government is required to even note them: 10,000 signatures for a Government response, and 100,000 to be considered for a debate. The threshold is much lower in the devolved parliaments – and in Scotland there is no threshold. But in all cases, petitions only trigger debate and a Government can simply ignore them. However, they can be a good way of getting elected representatives to hear your case.
Petition your local authority - Look on the local authority website to see what kind of petitions they will accept and what you need to do to get your issue debated (e.g. whether it needs to be presented to the council by one of the councillors, whether you can only do it at specific meetings etc.). If you don’t get this right, it will be rejected. The numbers of signatories required to trigger action will be much lower than for Government, but again, a local authority will be under no obligation to take the action you are asking for.

Social media

Social media gives everyone a platform to shout about issues, and can help you get a campaign message out to potential fellow allies. As long as you are clear that social media alone will not get anything actually changed, you can use it as another campaigning tool.

If you are going to use social media,

be clear about what you’re trying to achieve. What do you want the end point of your campaign to be? Always include a call to action so people know what they can do to help.
use facts and build logical arguments. Your opinion is not enough.
decide on a tone. Remember you’re trying to get people on board and even change their mind. Heaping insults on people won’t make them want to talk to you.
build relationships. Spot who is replying to you and get chatting to possible influencers whose support you would benefit from. But time spent arguing with those that disagree with you is unlikely to make a difference.
remember, social media is only one tool in your communications box; make sure you think about others: some people are reached more effectively by poster, leaflet or at local events.

Demonstration

A demonstration can be useful in attracting media attention, as it’ll provide a good photo opportunity, so it may well get you in the local paper, e.g. a flashmob outside council chambers to protest about music cuts.
It’s also a good opportunity to bring supporters together, and moral support when you are campaigning gives you a real boost to keep going. The great thing about campaigning on behalf of music making, is you have the perfect attention grabbing tool at your disposal – live music! A joyful protest will get as much attention as a confrontational one and could be more persuasive.
Decision makers who see a demonstration may take greater note than they would of any other type of communication. Voters making the effort to turn up in person to protest will likely make them more concerned than an online petition they can just ignore. It can also bolster the confidence of decision makers that are on your side.
So that a demonstration is effective, beware of making it too confrontational. Antagonising rather than influencing can be counter productive. Bear in mind that the majority of councillors and officers are trying to do their job in the way they think is best, and that making decisions when budgets are tight is a difficult job. Be careful not to burn bridges that won’t be able to be repaired.

The tactical campaign

Although noisy campaigning is great for raising awareness, in our experience it is the tactical campaign that has the real impact. Find and communicate with the people who take the decisions that will stop the cut or make the change you want. Use the democratic processes that give you the opportunity to present your case. And build a strong network of supporters to prove to decision makers that their voters or stakeholders will thank them for taking a stand.

Build a case

Get together with a few people enthusiastic about working together on your campaign to think about what you’re trying to achieve and what might be the best way of achieving it.

Decide together what the aim of your campaign is. What will a positive outcome look like? Try to articulate this in just a few sentences.
Give the full picture. The negative result of the decision you’re campaigning for or against may be obvious to you but you will need to make that case to those that don’t know or understand. Pull together lots of information that decision makers won’t have e.g. music groups in the local authority that would be impacted, numbers of amateur musicians that represents, numbers of concerts performed in a venue, audience numbers etc. Making Music can often help with relevant data
Consider a co-operative approach. Is your aim to reverse or prevent a cut to a service? If you were successful: would the council have to cut services elsewhere instead? Think carefully about what you want to ask for, how you will get public support and how to respond to those who will feel the council should be spending its limited money elsewhere. Can you offer a different, mutually satisfactory solution? Budgets are so tight that you may need to accept some change and compromises.
Make a holistic case. Have a look at other strategic aims of the local authority e.g. improving health & well-being, or making the town centre an attractive place to visit. Your can then argue the case that enabling music activity can help achieve this strategic aim and explain what infrastructure you need to make that happen.
Offer yourself and your group as adviser and facilitator. Offer to come and speak to council officers, councillors, committees or other decision makers. You could convene a focus group for them to discuss and consult with. Express understanding for the council or organisation’s position and offer to help find a solution that works for both parties.
Work within the council structures. If decisions have to be passed by cabinet, then work on getting the right decisions taken. No noisy demonstration, online petition or social media post will be a substitute for that. Find out what it takes to change things through the council procedures, and then put all your energy into that.
Attending the relevant council committee meetings in person and asking a question is often highly effective and means you will be in the minutes of the meeting. Find out though what the mechanism is for asking a question. And note: committee papers are usually not published until a week before the meeting

Build a campaigning network

As well as your small group of campaigners, you’ll need a much bigger network of supporters who can get your message out, and reach those who influence and make decisions

Who to contact?

Everyone you personally know who might have an interest in this issue
Everyone connected to the service or infrastructure you are campaigning to protect e.g. fellow music library users, other music groups in the area, or parents of children receiving lessons through a music service etc.
Anyone connected to music, education, local facilities or other wider community issues the issue touches.

How to contact?

Word of mouth
Social media
Local press
Local online forum
Leaflets handed out at the local music library/school/community hall etc., wherever you think you might reach others interested in this service
Leaflets put through doors in a relevant neighbourhood
You can ask Making Music to put the word out to other music groups in the area
There may be other relevant networks like Making Music, e.g. for Scouts or amateur dramatic societies etc.

Build communications

Create a dedicated email address for your campaign
Set up a dedicated Facebook, WhatsApp or other online group
Create an e-mailing list for news and updates. Websites like Mailchimp allow you to create a database securely and in compliance with data protection legislation.
For people with more time and enthusiasm, create an informal action group. Put these people in touch with each other directly (with permission) so things can be progressed without one person having to do everything.

Mobilise the network

Communicate regularly with updates and messages to push out to keep the issue live. Beware! If you swamp people with messages day and night they will unsuscribe!
Ask your supporters to reach out to their own contacts. Give them links and instructions, so they can ask new supporters to join the mailing list, online groups etc.
Give them the tools they need to take action. If you want them to write to councillors etc. give them names and addresses, the campaign ask and the data and other evidence they need to back up the case.
Printed material such as leaflets and online material such as campaign images and videos will help spread the word. If you can create this collateral, make sure you pass on to your network to use e.g. by having a shared file online with everything available.
Ask them to attend meetings and events. Having people in the public galleries at council meetings is good for information gathering and moral support. Local events are good places to hand out leaflets and talk. Give supporters all the info on where and when it would be useful for them to be somewhere in person, with as much notice as possible. For council meetings, whilst the date is usually known well in advance, the agenda is not published until the week before

Take action – tackling a Local Authority

If the decision or proposal you are challenging is the responsibility of the local authority, then you can use democratic processes to take action.

Make a case by letter / email – Who to contact

Your own elected representative. Find the councillor who represents the constituency your group operates in, or where you live using the ‘Find my councillor’ tool or similar on your local authority webpage. If the matter is something dealt with by the UK or devolved parliaments, you can approach your MP or approach them to help you make a case to the local authority or an organisation.
The elected representatives responsible for making the decision. If you find out the department or committee that will take a decision or make the change you want, contact the councillors involved. This could be the relevant cabinet level portfolio holder, the chair of the relevant committee or the council leader. But there’s nothing to stop you writing to a whole committee, or indeed every councillor. Where there are elected executive mayors responsible for your area, they might be the ones to contact (and/or their deputy).
Who to contact - Officers: Even the most senior council employees will either just ignore your letters or emails, or tell you that they are carrying out what the councillors decided. But although they can’t effect change, do copy them in to any correspondence – they like to know what’s going on.

Make a case by letter / email – How to contact

Find contact details: all councillor contact details are on the council website – the address to write to, the email addresses, sometimes phone numbers. For council officers, if you find out the name or position of a council employee you want to contact, look on the website, or call the council enquiry number for their email address if it’s not obvious. Failing that, you could try using the standard formula for all local authorities; try firstnameDOTsecondname@COUNCIL.gov.uk (e.g. john.smith@southwark.gov.uk ). You can also use the Find Your MP website.
By email AND letter: always send both; emails are immediate, but letters lie around on a desk being irritating. Always copy in several people visibly i.e. mention their name on the letter and copy them in openly on an email. This means the recipients can’t pretend they didn’t get your email or letter and also that they have to talk to each other about this.
Don’t use templates: Your supporters will ask for a template letter they can copy and send. But we have been told by councillors and MPs that when they receive multiple letters that are the same, they discount them, or count them as one contact. Instead, brief supporters on what the ask is, and give them the data and information they need, but ask them to write in their own words. Then each letter will be sure to be counted seperately.

Attend council meetings

Four reasons for attending a council meeting:
1. they will be taking a decision on the topic you are interested in and you want to stop or change or postpone their decision
2. they have already taken a decision on the topic you are interested in, but you want them to change that decision
3. they have promised to take a decision on the topic you are interested in, but they are dragging their feet and basically trying to kick it in the long grass
4. you want to show the strength of feeling and how it’s not just you that is protesting about this issue
If you can go, DO – it is highly effective. Every extra body at a meeting is really valuable for making an impression. Many council meetings are open to the public, but not many people ever turn up, so if you do you will get real attention for your topic. Anecdotally, councillors count every voter actually turning up as representing 100 others who aren’t able to but are also disgruntled. The presence of large numbers of people at a meeting could be considered an intervention; it may prompt the chair of the meeting to take your agenda item first or to instruct officers to find out more and report back.
Table questions – Check the meeting notice to see if you can table a question in response to items on the agenda or in the papers. Timing can be very tight to submit; papers for meetings come out usually one week in advance and you may have to submit your question 24 or 48 hours after that. Usually you submit a question in writing but can be allowed to ask it at the meeting. A prepared answer from the council will be read out in response, normally by the relevant portfolio holder. You may then have an opportunity to ask a follow up question or councillors may ask you questions. Even if not immediately effective, it will mean your issue will feature in the minutes for the meeting and the response officially taken note of and made public.
Find out the protocol for interventions - Always study meeting notices and papers carefully as there may be other ways in which you are allowed to speak or intervene at meetings. There are differences from one council to another e.g. you might enlist your own or another sympathetic councillor to ask a question, even if they are not on the relevant committee - non-committee councillors are usually allowed to bring questions to meetings. Read up on the protocols and rules as councillors may be constrained in what they can do even if sympathetic to your cause.
Attending meetings can work! A case study – When Making Music was supporting members to tackle the council over the performing arts library in Surrey, we used meeting attendance as a powerful tactic. At every cabinet meeting that the library was not on the agenda, we asked a question about it. Eventually we rallied 90 people who turned up wearing bright blue T-shirts saying 'Give SPAL to the community'. They didn’t do anything, but just by sitting there they visually dominated the meeting and got the message across very simply, as well as giving the local paper a great photo. At the next meeting, the library was finally on the agenda.

What next?

Beware – Campaigning can take a lot of time, and take up a lot of your time. Campaigns we have been involved with have taken from a couple of months to three years to bring about a result. You will need a lot of patience, but also to keep pushing forward. And sometimes there is only so much you can do before you risk alienating people or having a negative impact.

And what happens when the decision is taken and it’s not in your favour? Or if the wrong decision was taken before you became aware of the issue? That is not always the end of the matter. Sometimes decision are made well before they are implemented, which can give you some more months to influence and time to bring about a fresh decision. This happened when Making Music was supporting member to campaign in Norfolk over the music library.

The end of the campaign – the beginning of something else

Whether or not in the end you achieve what you set out to do you will have done something positive, made a difference and influenced people. A lot more people, including decision makers and the press, will be far more informed about the activity you care about than they were before. Make the most of these connections.

Continue to keep the councillors up to date - Even when there isn’t a crisis, keep in touch to tell councillors what you do and what it means to the people in your group, to your audiences, to your community. Invite them to a concert, to celebrate an anniversary or other achievement. Next time there is a decision to be made, those councillors will understand what you do, and hopefully factor you and your needs in.
Continue to talk to your local press - Journalists do want good stories about your community so keep them up to date and feed them some good copy and great photos. Nurture these relationships and if there is another threat, they’ll already be on your side and know who to get in touch with.
Keep in touch with your supporters – Ask your campaign support network if they’d like to join your mailing list, follow your Facebook page etc. Maybe even offer them a discount on tickets to your next concert to say thanks for their efforts. This could be a great audience development exercise.

And take heart. You’ve learned lots of new skills and hopefully feel less powerless. You’re ready for the next campaign!

We hope you find this Making Music resource useful. If you have any comments or suggestions about the guidance please contact us. Whilst every effort is made to ensure that the content of this guidance is accurate and up to date, Making Music do not warrant, nor accept any liability or responsibility for the completeness or accuracy of the content, or for any loss which may arise from reliance on the information contained in it.