365NEWSX
365NEWSX
Subscribe

Welcome

For These Classical Musicians, It’s Always Been About Racial Equity - The New York Times

For These Classical Musicians, It’s Always Been About Racial Equity - The New York Times

For These Classical Musicians, It’s Always Been About Racial Equity - The New York Times
Jan 27, 2021 2 mins, 5 secs

Black Lives Matter, in the national psyche for nearly a decade, crested with the killing of George Floyd and weeks of widespread demonstrations that could no longer be ignored — even by classical music.

Elsewhere, the Chicago Sinfonietta places a lot of importance on recordings, said Blake-Anthony Johnson, its chief executive.

LESSONS LEARNED “Focus on what you want the narrative of the season to be: each concert, but also the whole season,” Johnson said.

LESSONS LEARNED “As a golden rule, always try a person’s musical idea before rejecting it; that’s how sincerity is born,” Spellman-Diaz said?

WHAT IT DOES Alexander Lloyd Blake founded this Los Angeles-based choral ensemble in 2016, inspired by his own experience as an artist who felt “othered” in the world of classical music.

LESSONS LEARNED “Make room for underrepresented voices in places of agency within organizations,” Blake said.

LESSONS LEARNED “Dedicate 15 percent of your budget, for the next 10 years, to all issues of equity and diversity,” Dworkin said.

WHAT IT DOES Founded in the past decade and located in Boston, this ensemble was created with the mission of promoting music by Black composers.

“I laugh at that now because it’s so limiting,” said Ashleigh Gordon, the artistic and executive director.

“I talked with someone in the audience,” Gordon said, “and she told me she didn’t realize how much she needed that affirmation as a Black woman.”.

LESSONS LEARNED “If organizations really do mean it, they need to make sure that diversity and representation are top-of-mind priorities — not something they say, but something they do,” Gordon said.

WHAT IT DOES “We call ourselves an activist orchestra,” said Eun Lee, the executive director of this New York-based ensemble, which was founded in 2014.

As such, said Lee Bynum, the board’s chairman, The Dream Unfinished is designed to be nimble enough to respond in real time to, for example, election season or the Black Lives Matter demonstrations of the past year

LESSONS LEARNED “You can’t address a challenge that hasn’t been identified,” Bynum said

WHAT IT DOES In the mid-2000s, Jeri Lynne Johnson was having trouble getting work as a conductor

Johnson said that her ensemble, which is based in Philadelphia, has a leg up on diversity only because “we live the work.” Its community engagement is framed as “inreach” — creating as many pathways as possible to bring especially children into the world of classical music

LESSONS LEARNED “The most important that these legacy institutions need to genuinely consider is: Whom do you serve?” Johnson said

Summarized by 365NEWSX ROBOTS

RECENT NEWS

SUBSCRIBE

Get monthly updates and free resources.

CONNECT WITH US

© Copyright 2024 365NEWSX - All RIGHTS RESERVED