I had the pleasure this week to sit on a panel to discuss Early Music in New York, past, present, and future and I thank the Early Music Foundation and Early Music America for the privilege. I touched on several issues that still plague the field with respect to ethnic diversity and that of black and brown musicians, among other things. Yes, there are more ethnically diverse players in the field now, but there is more work to be done to make sure there is representation in the field across the board.
Today I had the pleasure of attending the Black Orchestral Network 2024 Summit and, low and behold, this was also the topic of discussion with respect to managing initiatives to increase diversity in every aspect of the field of classical music. The discussion focused on how to create equitable auditions, how to build community and financial support by increasing board, donor, and staff diversity, how to identify ways in which all of us can work together to break the stigma that comes with “white fragility,” and how to find ways in which we can reach a benchmark to celebrate black creative expression in the field rather than perpetuating the idea that this should be noted as extraordinary.
Chi-chi Nwanoku, Founder of Chineke!. double bassist, broadcaster, writer, and mentor, spoke about the Berlin Conference of 1884, at which European Nations discussed how to divide up the continent of Africa among them. She brought to our attention that those nations sitting at the table reaped the benefits while those African countries that were not invited might consider themselves on the menu. All that to say, we need to have more change agents at the table alongside musicians of color to make the case for a more equitable field. We also need to respect the fact that musicians of color did not choose this field to right the wrongs of discrimination but chose the field because of a passion for making music. To work efficiently toward our goal, we need to see a larger and more diverse pool of advocates involved in every aspect of our field to move the DEI initiative forward, maintain it, and retain it as a high priority.
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