Sorey’s work eludes the pinging radar of genre and style. Is it jazz? New classical music? Composition? Improvisation? Tonal? Atonal? Minimal? Maximal? Each term captures a part of what Sorey does, but far from all of it. At the same time, he is not one of those crossover artists who indiscriminately mash genres together. – The New Yorker
How Social Impact Philanthropy Is Impacting Arts Such as Theatre And Dance
A case study: “First, its focus on social impact theatre provides another illuminating example of a funder embracing the red-hot field of socially focused arts programming. And second, its work underscores the growing influence of institutional funders operating in fields like dance and theater that traditionally lack robust individual and government support.” – Inside Philanthropy
What I Learned Teaching Art In Georgia State Prison
“Must we change our lives? Honestly, I don’t know. I am certainly changed by this work, call it art or god or—what we care about at Common Good—dignity. But I’m not much convinced by this poem that art asks of us any such thing.” – Americans for the Arts
Equity Must Be At The Heart Of Local Arts Agencies’ Finding Work. Here’s Why
“If the field is not investing in the artistic and cultural traditions of every aspect of their community, then we are not fulfilling our purpose. … The historically inequitable distribution of resources and the values systems, biases, and systemic barriers associated with that distribution hold within them insidious checks and balances that make achieving the goal of cultural equity something that requires deep and specific engagement, self-reflection, and transformative effort.” – Americans for the Arts
The Difference Between Audience Engagement And Community Engagement
“The term [‘community engagement’], and more importantly the idea, is something that funders and other decision makers are looking for — and we know it. … With the increased use of this term, there has been some confusion as to what community engagement actually is. One of the most common points of confusion has come around differentiating the terms ‘community engagement’ and ‘audience engagement.’ Let’s start by defining what each of these terms is individually.” – Americans for the Arts
Are Arts Orgs’ Diversity Initiatives Just A New Form Of Paternalism?
That’s the charge made by a few leading arts figures, among them Madani Younis, creative director of London’s Southbank Centre: “This paternalism on the one hand allows institutions to co-opt the concerns of diversity, of gender, of class and so on. On the one hand, you say: ‘That’s super good. These guys are on it, they hear the cry and they are looking to change something’. But on the flip side of that new paternalism, those very institutions then get to decide what the pace of change is. And for me that is perverse.” – Arts Professional
Two Chicago Ensembles Make A Mission Of Programming Female Composers
Oboist Ashley Ertz started the group 5th Wave Collective especially to perform and promote music written by women. “Since April 2018, the volunteer-based group of more than 115 musicians has performed works by more than 50 female composers via 12 concerts throughout Chicagoland.” And the Chicago Sinfonietta under composer Mei-Ann Chen — who perform more female-authored music in a single program than the Chicago Symphony manages in several seasons put together — has just released a recording titled Project W: Works by Diverse Women Composers. – Chicago Tribune
The Art World Is Finally Responding To Older African American Artists
Well, indeed: “‘There has been a whole parallel universe that existed that people had not tapped into,’ said Valerie Cassel Oliver, curator of modern and contemporary art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond.” For some of the artists, the attention can feel like a bit of a mixed blessing, but the advantages are strong. – The New York Times
Annapolis Symphony Trains A New, More Diverse Generation Of Musicians
Annapolis Symphony executive director Patrick J. Nugent and concertmaster Netanel Draiblate write about why and how they started the Annapolis Symphony Academy, “a culturally diverse after-school program to identify and nurture talent in youth regardless of ability to pay” that launched last September and has already doubled in size. “By design, half are African American or Latino and half (regardless of ethnicity) met the family income criteria to receive full tuition scholarships.” – The Baltimore Sun
Arts’ And Artists’ Engagement With Communities Is Important, But There Are Problems They Cannot And Sould Not Solve
“Issues that produce social, economic, and moral deprivations cannot be ‘solved’ by arts, creative industries, or whatever we come to call them next. They should and can be solved with meaningful social and economic measures. The best arts and culture can do, in this respect, is to mask social-economic inequalities by having people from diverse backgrounds participate in local cultural life. If we accept that game, we are not alleviating troubles, but relieving responsibilities.” – HowlRound
A Dance Company For Black Women, Without Mirrors, Music, Or Body-Shaming
“Incorporating four components into their practice: dance, discussion, writing and American Sign Language, dance company BLAQ works to give black women a space where they can be free of the stereotypes and discrimination they experience in daily life and heal through the unfiltered expression of dance.” Reporter Becca Most visits the Minneapolis studio with BLAQ founder Deja Stowers. – AP (Minnesota Daily)
Program Supports Black And Latinx Musicians Throughout Orchestral Audition Process
The National Alliance for Audition Support, launched by the League of American Orchestras, the Sphinx Organization, and the New World Symphony, “offers a range of supports to help musicians of color truly compete for the limited number of orchestra slots … NAAS matches participants with mentors, offers them three-day training intensives with professional musicians, provides them with travel stipends and places them in pre-audition showcases.” – Colorlines
Leaders Of Europe’s First Pro Orchestra For Non-White Musicians Talk About Diversity And Inclusion In Classical Music
WQXR editor-in-chief Jacqui Cheng interviews Chi-chi Nwanoku, one of London’s leading double bassists and founder of the Chineke! Orchestra, and Chineke! bassoonist Linton Stephens. – WQXR (New York City)
Why It’s Good Business For Arts Organizations To Be Socially Conscious (And Act On It)
“I’m not suggesting for a moment that corporate virtue-signaling is driven by anything more than pure, uncut capitalism, or that a chasm doesn’t separate legitimate IRL activism from retail “activism.” But the point is that sincerity isn’t required for money to change hands. On average, people with the most surplus cash increasingly want to support a progressive agenda—or at least pay for a tenuous claim to it—and the for-profit world is adjusting itself accordingly. So why wouldn’t the nonprofit world benefit by doing the same?” – Artnet
Chicago Sinfonietta Works To Diversify Its Podium
The orchestra’s Conducting Freeman Fellowship program, overseen by music director Mei-Ann Chen and part of its larger Project Inclusion, brings two conducting fellows and two auditors to the city for five long weekends through the year “to work with Chen and to be mentored by conductors, board leaders, and orchestra managers … with the goal of mastering a variety of on-podium and off-podium skills that the Sinfonietta identifies as necessary for an orchestra leader to succeed in the 21st century.” – Symphony Magazine
A Worrisome Disconnect Between The Arts And The Public
“If, as many people think, the type of culture you enjoy is one marker of class, then by definition the arts can never be ‘working class’ because class and culture define each other. By this argument, if the working or lower classes (cringeworthy terms) leave their cocoons and somehow emerge as middle-class butterflies because they listen to Radio 3, then they no longer count as working class precisely because they listen to Radio 3. We are still stuck in this catch-22.” – Arts Professional
Kids, Atlanta Symphony Make A “Cultural Symphony”
A collaboration between students, dancers, choreographer and musicians in the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
Link Arts Advocacy With The Actual Arts (And Their Community)
Since arriving as the new Dean of the School of the Arts at Purchase College in the State University of New York system last summer, Lorenzo Candelaria, 47, has made arts advocacy his school’s cause. His teaching, scholarship and community engagement seek to shape and drive “a national conversation on the central role of the arts in society” with “humanities-infused public programming” playing a vital role, he says. – Diverse Education
The Arts Were Supposed To Lead On Diversity. It Hasn’t Turned Out That Way
Current diversity initiatives within the cultural and creative industries continue to approach the issue of ethnic minority equality through a culture of schemes – and the hyper-celebration of the latest initiative. This points to a diversity agenda performing as a marketing strategy rather than a method of structural transformation. Further, it resists a collective discussion on what diversity as a concept actually means – and if current approaches are still useful for responding to manifold inequalities. – The Guardian
The Thriving Theatre Scene In Mexico’s Prisons
“There are fifteen professional theatre companies in Mexico within detention centers, and hundreds of inmates participate. Two companies — the one at Santa Martha Acatitla prison and one called A Shout of Freedom — regularly present shows inside the jails for their fellow inmates, their families, and even the general public.” – HowlRound
First Issue: When A Museum Wants To Be Relevant To Its Community – What Does Relevance Mean?
“Our breakthrough moment was when we took ownership of the fact that we didn’t need to write a “social impact statement” (which might be seen as competing with our mission statement). Rather, we simply needed to articulate the problem our community is facing that we are uniquely suited to address, the best solution we believe exists for that problem, and the concrete and tangible outcomes we’re going to measure that will demonstrate our positive social impact.” – Medium
Americans For The Arts Expands Programs For Cultural Equity And Diversity In Arts Leadership
This year the organization will extend its 25-year-old Diversity in Arts Leadership program beyond New York City to New Jersey and Iowa, launch an Arts & Cultural Equity Fellows program in the Great Lakes region, create an Arts & Culture Leaders of Color Network, and begin a 3-day retreat called the Leaders of Color Forum. — Americans for the Arts
Rubin Foundation Announces 2019 Grants In Art And Social Justice
“This year’s cohort includes smaller organizations that are at the forefront of using cultural production to address contemporary issues such as LGBTQ rights, distributive justice, court diversion for youth, and domestic violence. Grantees include Fourth Arts Block, Disability/Arts/NYC, Jack, Alice Austen House, Photo Requests from Solitary (A Project of Solitary Watch), Wendy’s Subway, and Forward Union. Among the larger institutions receiving funding are El Museo del Barrio, the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, the Queens Museum, and the Studio Museum in Harlem.” – Art Forum
‘Turning The Usual Pattern Of Arts Engagement On Its Head’
An Arts Council England-funded program called Creative People and Places “aims to increase arts participation in places where people are less likely to take part in arts activity” — and it seems to be succeeding with the groups least likely to engage with the arts generally. What’s the secret? Nothing very secret at all, actually. — Arts Professional
Can Immersive Experiences Be Used To Make Art More Inclusive?
This talk by the founders of of MeowWolf explains how giving participants the ability to create their own experiences in a virtual world is a powerful way to make art more accessible, meaningful, and inclusive. (includes a good history of how immersive storytelling has evolved) – American Museums (YouTube)
Music, Health and Wellbeing: Exploring Music for Health Equity and Social Justice
An exploration of “whether music can contribute to health equity and social justice, by enhancing positive Social Determinants of Health (SDOH), and alleviating negatives ones. Twenty‐six authors consider this question from a range of angles, including micro‐level (small group) interventions, meso‐level (community) initiatives, and macro‐level (societal) approaches.” – Health Promotion Journal of Australia [Academic journal – paid access]
Using Virtual Reality To Design New Musical Instruments For The Disabled
The leader and a researcher from the Performance Without Barriers project write about how, always working with disabled performers themselves, they’ve adapted VR technology to augment the instrument of a blind clarinetist and create an entirely new instrument for a musician with cerebral palsy. — The Conversation
Inventing A Podcast To Bridge Different Cultures
Make-Believe is a new podcast company in Chicago, and is, as Jeremy McCarter likes to put it, a podcast that’s “one part live theater, one part TV production, one part social science… Chicago is multiple cities. The discourse becomes more authentic when you can bridge — let’s call it what it is — segregation.” – The New York Times
A New Phase In Art And Dance Made By Artists With Disabilities
This new wave “is a consideration of the aesthetic possibilities of disability. It’s not about adaptation or accommodation. It’s about how unique bodies, minds, senses and phenomenological experiences of disability and impairment—along with the political aspects and intersectional identities—can create new work.” – Vice
Chamber Music Collective Brings Classical Music To Teenagers In State Custody
Reporter Cintia Lopez joins members of the Boston ensemble Sarasa for one of their performance/workshops at a Massachusetts Department of Youth Services facility. — WBUR (Boston)