For part of our promotion of the Jazz Mentors Student Jam, Local 802 allowed me to take over its Instagram feed. For 24 hours, I was able to log into the union’s account and take people on a journey throughout my day. The “story” feature on Instagram allows users to post pictures and 15-second videos that can be saved to an archive. One of the interactive features we used on this platform is the questions sticker. A question box is added to a photo or video and people who view the story have an answer field that they type into. The answers to the questions are received privately and can be posted anonymously. Later in the afternoon we used the “live” feature, where our special guest artist Ron Wilkins and I had a brief conversation about our music and the Jazz Mentors Student Jam. I’m excited about the positive ways in which we are staying engaged at Local 802 and can’t wait to see the next Instagram takeover as well as our future sessions. Thanks to Local 802’s Communications and Marketing Associate Maria DiPasquale for making the takeover happen. To my colleagues, thank you so much for entrusting me with our vision. Check out Local 802’s Instagram feed at www.instagram.com/musicians_of_ny. My takeover story is archived there. (Look for the circle with the label “HC3 Takeover.”)

– Henry Conerway III, @thehc3