WORK

Advocate.

Educate to Advocate. This is Anita’s motto for music education advocacy.

Too often, Anita has seen the traditional forms of music education advocacy fall on deaf ears and provoke blank faces. But this is the kind of reaction that Anita is excited by. She wants to find ways to help her audiences open their ears again and engage their interest in the place and purpose of music education for every child.

Anita believes that if teachers can change and mould the minds of children through education, then they can use the same superpower with adults. Through Bigger Better Brains, Anita is developing this new approach to advocacy with resources and training.

Music Education: Right from the Start.

The “Music Education: Right from the Start" initiative aims to explore and identify the requirements, benefits, and barriers to access in music education, emphasising the critical impact of music learning on child development including literacy, numeracy, emotional self-regulation, and social skills. It advocates for quality, sequential music education in all primary schools.

Media.

Dr. Anita Collins, known for explaining music education's impact on brain development, regularly writes for national news outlets and is a frequent guest on radio interviews and podcasts. She simplifies complex scientific research in her blog posts and articles, reaching a broad audience. Through social media, she engages directly with educators and parents, sharing insights and sparking discussions on music's role in education. Collins' accessible approach and consistent media presence have established her as a pivotal voice in both the scientific and educational spheres.

Bigger Better Brains.

Bigger Better Brains’ vision is to equip music educators around the world with the knowledge and materials to advocate for music education in an entirely new way. BBB provides online professional learning materials, resources and face-to-face training based on the BBB Educate to Advocate model.

TED.

In 2014, Anita had a wonderful year with the TED brand. She wrote the script for the highly shared TED Ed video, How playing an instrument benefits your brain, and the TEDx Talk, What if every child had music education from birth? TED helped Anita find her idea worth sharing and propelled her towards her current work to change the face of music education for children around the world.

Don't Stop the Music.

Don’t Stop the Music is a three-part documentary that aired on Australian ABC1 in late 2018. It followed students, their parents and teachers at a challenging school through the highs and lows of starting a music program. This documentary bought Anita’s work to prominence in Australia and overseas and provided much of the inspiration for her book The Music Advantage.