“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)
Tag: sj1
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
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.
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
‘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
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