Dismantling Systemic Racism and Polarization

STEP ONE: SIGN BLACK VOICES MATTER PLEDGE

https://www.blackvoicesmatterpledge.org


STEP TWO: EXAMPLE BIO STATEMENTS

(White artists) I acknowledge that I propagate and benefit from systemic racism, and my financial reparations include _______.  

I acknowledge I am part of a group of performers that do not reflect the diversity of our communities. To change this, I … Please refer to www.beyondartists.org … send back to website for more context. 

(For anyone) With these performances, I stand in solidarity with people of color who are marginalized through systemic racism and industries, and support _______.

_______ is committed to working toward greater equity and programmatic representation for BBI, LGBTQ, and female voices across the field.

See ______’s website for ways we can actively amplify BIPOC individuals in the classical music arena and beyond.

To help dismantle systemic racism [in my industry and beyond], I …

I support [Border CrosSing] as a way to support equity in the classical music arena.

Simply listing the organization you support is an effective step as well.

Additional statement:

Tonight, I am performing on the ________ land. (Indigenous land map here.) If you include this, please read the page on how to do this as the “how” is extremely important.

STEP THREE: ACTIONS NOT MENTIONED IN BIO

(Refer again to Black Voices Matter pledge)

  • Include on your personal website space for how you are working toward IDEA actions (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access) in your life and work, and resources for how others can do the same

  • Donate your comp tickets to a local nonprofit that works toward efforts in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and ask to speak to those comp ticket holders after the concert to build connection. Also, make sure those ticket holders can get to the concert (offer a Lyft or personal ride). Offer comp tickets to another upcoming concert to continue the relationship and engagement.

  • Offer to your directors to do Talk Backs after concerts to build community connection

  • Offer recitals as auction items for galas and program music by composers of color

  • Put an aria by a composer of color on your 5 Aria Audition Package (we need to change the opera world!). Also include more works by composers of color on your rep list. 

  • Program composers of color on recitals, and many of them

  • Work to create safe spaces for people of color to voice true concerns

  • Perform with organizations who purposefully engage members of our communities that might typically be excluded from or not represented in Classical Music 

ORGANIZATIONS to support 

Arts Organizations

Sphinx Organization

Castle of our Skins

Border CrosSing

Singers Of This Age

Shelter Music (this is not focused on People of Color, but does bring classical music to groups of people - homeless people - that are otherwise typically left out of the Classical Music world)

Hamilton Garrett Music and Arts Academy (Boston’s Black-run music organization teaching students classical music from the Aftrican Diaspora. Their mission: "challenge inner-city youth to see themselves as positive producers of culture, music, and the arts as a whole, rather than merely consumers of it.")

Others

Black Visions Collective

NAACP Legal Defense Fund

ACLU

SURJ

The Bail Project

Campaign Zero

Black Lives Matter

Rock the Vote

General Resource Center

Women

Musicians/Composers of Color 

Across disciplines

A project “to help rectify historic and ongoing racial injustices in the classical music sphere.”  It includes:

This workshop provided a framework for discussing racism personally and professionally, offered resources and perspectives to help shape our work, and tools to “change the table” (document summarizing the workshop is here)

Phillip Schoultz “Welcome” Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lDQ0vn8fsk

Session #1 Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qm-vuMfmyJE&t=645s

Session #2 Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md5DFHs3PRM

Session #3 Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzl77HXq6BQ&list=PLSAEL61W8EgHhEcQh_0i2XN2i6mrGy4rY&index=1

Vocal Music 

NATIVE AMERICAN

Timeline: https://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/native-american-timeline

  • Native American Songs and the Frontiers of Early Modern Music: Olivia Bloechl (released Oct 15, 2020)

  • 500 Nations, Alvin Josephy (full text available here) - Also documentary

  • Native Pathways: American Indian Culture and Economic Development in the Twentieth Century (availble online here)

  • Indigenous Pop: Native American Music from Jazz to Hip Hop (Full text here) 

  • Natalie Curtis Burlin: A Life in Native and African American Music (Full text here)

Documentaries:

We Shall Remain (2010)

First Speakers: Restoring the Ojibwe Language (2010)

Native American History https://www.gale.com/native-american-history

Composers

H. Leslie Adams

Robert Owens

Andre Meyers 

Jacqueline Hairston

Dave Ragland 

Florence Price 

Cliff Notez (local to Boston) 

Jacqueline Hairston

Rosephayne Powell

Betty Jackson King

Tania León

Alvin Singleton—former composer in residence at Atlanta Symphony

Rollo Dillworth

Ysaye Barnwell 

Sulpitia Cesis, 17c cloistered nun

Reena Esmail

Opera

Leslie Adams Blake 

William Grant Still 

Robert Owens, “Culture Culture” 

Richard Thompson, “The Mask in the Mirror” - American Composers Alliance

Nonprofits working to heal polarization

Braver Angels

Living Room Conversations 

More in Common

America in One Room

The Better Arguments Project

Beyond Conflict

The Bridge Alliance

National Association of Nonpartisan Reformers (member-led Association dedicated to structural election reforms in the public interest)

One America Movement has chapters across the US bringing communities together across divides to work together on issues that matter to them

Civil Conversations Project—organized as part of the On Being Project with Krista Tippet

Center for Courage and Renewal (focused on Parker Palmer’s book “Healing the Heart of Democracy.”)

The Citizen’s Climate Lobby