Today, the genre is grappling with what, on the surface, might seem like an entirely different aspect of its legacy: the historical lack of diversity in its orchestras and ensembles. The truth is that these legacies could hardly be more intertwined: Economic discrimination has produced diversity dramas of all sorts. Yet you’d never know this … Continue reading “Classical Music’s Real Diversity Problem? Class”
“The point is that there are myriad class-related hurdles — material, psychological, and associative — that have prevented families of limited means from pursuing, or even wanting to pursue, this music. And of course, a disproportionate number of these families are Black.” – The New Republic
Mark Swed: “In the end, systemic diversity can be pushed by circumstance, like we’ve had in this year of upset. But it can’t be shoved. Within the next year or two, we will be able to celebrate more people of color at orchestras and other institutions. Hiring, however, could be limited by the sheer economic … Continue reading “The Solution To Classical Music’s Diversity Problem Is At Youth Orchestra Los Angeles”
The experience of some high-profile tech companies calls into question whether a diverse board leads to a more diverse workforce. Straight white men are a minority on the boards at Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, and Google parent Alphabet. None of the four would have to make changes to comply with Nasdaq’s rule. But none has shown … Continue reading “NASDAQ Proposes Rule To Diversify Boards. Will It Accomplish Diversity?”
“Classical music is diversifying not just on account of contemporary composers, but thanks to increased awareness of figures who were famous in their day but have since been forgotten, covered up or sidelined. The history of classical music is much more complex and diverse than the impression given by the canon as we know it … Continue reading “Reconsidering The Diversity Of Classical Music”
Public radio has a problem. In 2019, NPR’s newsroom was more than 70 percent white. The same year, 83 percent of the voices heard on its national shows were white, too. According to the most recent State of the System report by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, in 2018, just 23 percent of people working … Continue reading “Touting It Up: Public Radio’s Diversity Audit”
“There has been a lot of progress for women and people of colour in front of the camera,” Darnell Hunt, dean of the school’s social sciences division and the study’s co-author, said in a statement. “Unfortunately, there has not been the same level of progress behind the camera.“ – Toronto Star (AP)
It boils down to two concepts that sound simple but have profound implications: First, shorter distances are healthier than longer distances for commerce and human interaction; second, diversification — one farmer growing a dozen crops, for example — is healthier than monoculture, which is what globalization tends to create, whether it’s bananas or mobile phones. … Continue reading “The Case For Local Diversity Versus Globalism”
The Baltimore Museum of Art’s board of trustees voted Thursday night to have Sotheby’s auction house sell three significant — and, it could be argued, irreplaceable — modern artworks later this fall in an effort to expand ongoing diversity initiatives. – Baltimore Sun
Its sale will fund acquisitions of work by artists of color, women artists, and other marginalized artists underrepresented in the museum’s collection. The early Pollock painting will be included in Christie’s New York Evening Sale of 20th and 21st Century Art on October 6 and is estimated to sell for between $12 and 18 million. … Continue reading “Museum Votes To Sell Prized Jackson Pollock To Fund Diversity”
