According to a newly published report by SMU Data Arts, unemployment in the arts doubled that of the national average in the U.S., with BIPOC individuals and those with disabilities bearing the brunt of the impact.
Although employment returned for some workers of the arts sector, this recovery appears to have been virtually nonexistent for BIPOC and disabled workers.
Read MoreChart-topping artists like Lil Nas X walked away empty handed, but people like Jazmine Sullivan and Doja Cat reaffirmed their footing with fans, and the Recording Academy, by taking home the highly coveted trophy in their respective categories. Even the biggest award, the Grammy for “Album of the Year”, went to Jon Batiste, who himself seemed to be surprised when his name was called, making him the 11th Black artist to win this award in Grammy history.
With these, and several other Black artists taking home awards, it would seem that the Recording Academy is paying close attention to the continued push for more Black representation in the way these awards are distributed, but a closer look shows there is still a high level of marginalization toward Black artists that many people ignore in light of the success of a select few.
Read MoreWith just under one month to go until their groundbreaking Carnegie Hall season feature on Sunday April 24, the Gateways Music Festival Orchestra, composed entirely of Black musicians, will perform for a capacity audience as tickets for the concert are nearly sold out.
The 7 day Gateways Music Festival, which runs from April 18 to 24, consists of two full orchestra concerts, six chamber music performances, two piano recitals, two film screenings, two lectures, a panel discussion, a Young Musicians Institute, and an “after hours” jam session.
Read MoreDiversity, equity, and inclusion, as engaged by arts institutions across the country, have centered performers, but what about audience members? With a few exceptions (including the diverse audience turnout for the Metropolitan Opera’s “Fire Shut Up In My Bones”), opera audiences remain predominantly white.
The creation of a fictional, white character in “Emmett Till” for the sake of affirming the feelings of these predominantly white audiences is not only a perpetuation of a status quo that countless arts administrators, advocates, and activists work to dismantle, but a celebration of it.
Read MoreRC Editor Christine S. Escobar speaks with Brendan Slocumb in the latest installment of “Conversations” on finding opportunity, building habits for practice and discipline, and “The Violin Conspiracy”.
Each episode of Represent Classical’s “Conversations” series features in depth interviews with industry leaders, notable musicians, movers, shakers, and innovators.
Brendan Slocumb is violinist, music educator, conductor, and author.
Read MoreWear Yellow Proudly will present “Girls of Yellow Diamonds” a concert featuring Asian women composers and poets Friday, March 11 at 7:30 pm. ET at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia.
The event aims to uplift the stories of Asian women, honor the memory of the victims of the March 2021 Atlanta shootings, and celebrate International Women’s Day. Mezzo-sopranos Alice Chung, Sophia Maekawa, Pauline Tan, and pianist Ting Ting Wong will perform.
Read MoreBrendan Slocumb’s first novel, The Violin Conspiracy released this month by Anchor Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House, is charting on Amazon, has quickly gained national media buzz, and become a Good Morning America Book Club selection in only a matter of days. Its surprising success has caught its author pleasantly off guard.
Represent Classical spoke with the author and musician this week about the book and his personal inspiration behind the story.
Read MoreJames Sanders and his Latin jazz ensemble Conjunto, will celebrate the release of their new album, Evidencia on Friday at 8:30 p.m. with a performance at Constellation in Chicago.
Sanders is a violinist with the Chicago Sinfonietta orchestra, where he’s been a member since 1993. Though he didn’t study jazz during his college career or prior (he is a graduate of Yale), his dual musical citizenship, was mirrored in his bilingual upbringing.
Read MorePianist and popular YouTuber Tiffany Poon answers our questions on audience interaction, humanizing classical music, and assisting up and coming musicians through her nonprofit organization Together With Classical.
Read MoreAs a student at Howard University in 2010, composer Jonathan Bingham attended a small chamber music concert by “The President’s Own” United States Marine String Quartet with about 40 other audience members. On the program was the 1st movement of a string quartet by the late composer Mark Fax (1911-1974). A private recording of the concert was made by Howard and shared with Bingham and other composition students and faculty.
Read MoreTiffany Poon will perform December 12 at 2 p.m. at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as part of Washington Performing Arts' 2021-2022 season. The program features the works of composers Clara and Robert Schumann.
Read MoreThe Sphinx Organization has awarded two grants of $100,000 and one grant of $97,500 for 3 projects that meet the Sphinx Venture Fund’s mission to support initiatives designed to solve a challenge or an issue related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in classical music.
Read MoreA new gift of $2.1 million from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will support the League of American Orchestras’ next phase of their Catalyst Fund: an incubator program to advance equity, diversity, and inclusion practices in American orchestras. The new grant follows the receipt in 2019 of $2.1 million from the Mellon Foundation to fund a three-year pilot program that provided grants to 49 orchestras.
Read MoreRC Editor Christine S. Escobar speaks with Armando Castellano: President, Founder and Artistic Director of Quinteto Latino in the latest installment of “Conversations” about the contributions and experience of Latinx/Latin Americans to classical music, and the importance of changing the nature of arts leadership.
Each episode of Represent Classical’s “Conversations” series features in depth interviews with industry leaders, notable musicians, movers, shakers, and innovators.
Read MoreThe International Florence Price Festival will be holding its 2nd annual festival "PriceFest 2021: A New Black Renaissance” online from August 20-August 23rd, 2021, sponsored by the University of Maryland School of Music.
Read MoreThursday at the League of American Orchestras virtual conference “Embracing a Changed World”, a number of leading figures held discussions in two sessions focused on racial equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). They focused on tangible solutions to barriers facing orchestras and organizations attempting to reckon with equity, diversity, and inclusion from within.
Read MoreThe UK-based organization Black Lives in Music (BLiM) is using data and advocacy to amplify and empower Black musicians and music creators, in response to the widespread calls for equity for Black musicians.
Read MoreThe League of American Orchestras’ upcoming annual conference, “Embracing A Changed World”, will be held Monday, June 7 to Thursday, June 17 virtually online.
Read MoreSound Off: Music for Bail presents a livestreamed concert beamed live from Broadway Presbyterian Church, featuring four of New York City's finest chamber musicians in a program of music by historical and contemporary Black American composers.
Read MoreWhile many classical music organizations are looking inward to address racial equity issues, a new initiative is taking a new approach to advocating for young musicians of color. The National Instrumentalist Mentoring and Advancement Network (NIMAN) is a network made up of like-minded organizations and individuals seeking to promote racial equity in classical music.
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