AARI
Actionable Anti-Racism and Inclusion at UGA's HHSOM
What is AARI?
We are a diverse group of students focused on listening, amplifying, and facilitating. We believe that thoughtful communities of belonging are important for all the spaces we inhabit.
By defining “racism” as a systemic force, and not simply individual aggressions or opinions, we understand that institutions like the Hugh Hodgson School of Music are parts of those systems. Thus, HHSOM is engaging in inherent racism. While recognizing the HHSOM aims to be a tolerant and accepting environment, our current realities have laid bare disparities and discrimination that cannot be solved simply by the best of intentions. We are working for active anti-racist actions, both internally and for larger communities, acknowledging the unique platform music offers for these actions.
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Initiated in 2020, AARI was proposed as an autonomous student group that would be responsible for facilitating conversation, building coalition, and leading actionable steps that make our community a more equitable place to learn, live, and make music. This community is for everyone: all racial, ethnic, religious, gender/sexual, socially marginalized populations and anyone who has known the pain of exclusion and discrimination.
You can read more about our initial hopes and ideas in this proposal. The individuals below clearly recognize ours are far from the only voices and perspectives within our School. To that end, we are less members of a committee and more listeners to a community. We want to be a resource for education and activism. But we are even more interested in amplifying the voices of student stakeholders and using these perspectives to take meaningful action.
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About Us
Ivan Baquerizo (he/him)
4th-Year Transfer, Bachelor of Music - Music Education and Jazz Minor (Trombone)
Mentorship Team Co-Leader
Like many of my peers, I decided to pursue music education because I want to help people and I have a passion for music. I believe that music is something that brings us all together, regardless of race, gender, or socio-economic status. I believe that music is a gift that many us share and is something to share with others, and with that we grow as individuals and as a society. I believe the community we have at the HHSOM has the potential to come together and spark true change in our surrounding communities, and I look forward to witnessing this in the near future. I am excited to see our committee tackles the issues of racism and prejudice, and strive to spread awareness.
Claudia Beroukhim (she/her)
3rd-Year Bachelor of Music – Music Composition and Theory (Piano, Voice)
AARI's MusicBox Team Co-Leader and "AARI Tunes In" Leader
My name is Claudia Beroukhim and I am so excited to be a part of this committee! I have a lot of musical interests, but one area that I’m continuing to explore more is the intersection between music and other disciplines that allow me to understand music within a broader context, i.e. social justice. As a committee, I believe we're in a unique position to address issues around discrimination and inclusion through the lens of music.
I am interested in creating space for musicians (that means you all!) to share the musical practices of their cultures, backgrounds, and identities with our community. Now, more than ever, I think it’s important that we open up more conversations about what it means to be a musician today, particularly for marginalized people; there’s a much larger musical world out there that we neglect more often than we should.
Above all, my goal is to learn. As a Jewish Persian-American female with immigrant parents, there is still so much that I don’t know about my own identity, both personally and musically, and likewise that of everyone around me. I am confident in what we can get done within and around our HHSOM community, and I’m excited to do that work with you all!
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Ayako Pederson-Takeda (she/her)
4th-Year Bachelor of Music - Music Education and Composition (Cello)
AARI's MusicBox Team Co-Leader and Outreach Leader
My name is Ayako (she/her), and I am so excited to be a part of this committee this year! In addition to working on this committee, I work with the UGA String Project, an outreach group that teaches local elementary schoolers how to play orchestral string instruments. I hope to become a middle school strings or an elementary school music teacher while still pursuing compositional endeavors.
I grew up in Snellville, GA, a suburb of Atlanta. I was exposed to a variety of different people and cultures, but I struggled (and still struggle!) to understand how to embrace my own background. I am Japanese, White, and Native Alaskan, so I have adopted customs from many different racial/cultural backgrounds. It is difficult to know exactly “what” I am, and in music this creates many conflicting thoughts/emotions about how I “should” interact with music.
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I am interested in exploring the roles of BIPOC female performers/composers and how these identities play into performing/composing styles. I am also interested in highlighting the experience of multiracial musicians, as it can be very challenging to embrace multiple racial identities at the same time. I’m looking forward to helping to create a more inclusive space for the HHSOM community!
Kalissa Hernandez (she/her)
3rd-Year Bachelor of Music - Music Education (Voice)
Spanish Minor
Certificate in Musical Theatre
Hello! My name is Kalissa and I’m a proud latina who loves to share her experiences as a minority to promote diversity in the field of music education. I have experience playing piano and guitar while also training vocally here at the university. I am currently involved with the Collegiate National Association for Music Educators, the American Choral Directors Association, the HHSOM Ambassador Program and the African American Choral Ensemble in which I strive to promote equality for minorities and celebrate diversity.
Being latina at the University of Georgia has been a huge culture shock. I am from Jonesboro, GA where the population consists mainly of black, latino, and asian groups. Life was always filled with rich cultural experiences that constantly recognized our histories as minorities and celebrated the individual and shared traditions. I knew that coming to a WPI would present its challenges but I became frustrated at the white-washed curriculum when one of the university’s top objectives is diversity. How could you claim to strive for diversity when there are no active initiatives to change and accommodate other cultures, learning styles, backgrounds, etc.? Before joining AARI, I continuously searched for ways to integrate “diversity” into the classroom and educate individuals about other cultures (including my own) and now I am grateful to join the AARI team to help accomplish my life-ling mission as an educator.
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I would love to talk to you and get to know more about your experiences at UGA! Please feel free to reach out.
Lucy Rubin (she/her)
Caitlin Santos (she/her)
4th-Year Bachelor of Music - Composition (Horn)
Communications Leader
Hello! My name is Caitlin Santos (she/her) and I am a Latina who really loves jazz. Aside from being a student, I am a worship leader, guitar luthier, and bassist in a local Athens band. These ingredients to my big musical pot of gumbo are heavily influenced by my parent's Hispanic heritage and ties to the Deep South’s very own New Orleans, Louisiana. Being half Salvadorian and half Puerto Rican, I’ve always tried to celebrate my heritage by including the familiar sounds and traditions into my music-writing. I would be lying if I said stepping into a field predominantly occupied by white males was unusual or uncomfortable. The truth is, I have always been used to being in a room where other people don’t look or write like me. In light of recent events, I now realize this isn’t something normal and that it requires a change to happen in my own backyard. So, I’m here to represent the Latina women and ensure that the hard work and dedication we’ve always been known for is being applied to making intentional changes to diversify the repertoire and environment at our beloved, HHSOM.
David Stanley (he/him)
2nd-Year year Doctor of Musical Arts - Conducting
Committee Facilitator
My name is David Stanley. I serve as a graduate assistant for UGA Bands and am a doctoral student in conducting. I recently completed my MM at UGA ('20).
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I grew up in rural Appalachia, a place frequently stereotyped and one that does not look all that diverse on the surface. I spent the first part of my career teaching in a "majority-minority" urban high school, a place that presented new stereotypes and complexities. Yet, I found these "opposite" communities to be more connected than separate. Each had things to learn from, and teach, the other. These communities taught me the importance of being a musician who listens and acts: an artistic citizen of place.
I do not necessarily look like change. My success is entangled in systems of oppression. But those reasons are precisely why the work of a committee like this is my responsibility. I believe there is changing power in sharing community with others. When we are active, artistic citizens of place, investing ourselves even in the face of discomfort, we become more connected, more understanding, and more capable of the actionable work to which we are called.
Joyce Yun (she/her)
3rd-Year Bachelor of Music - Music Education
Creative Design and Logistical Support
My name is Joyce Yun and I am a third-year Music Education major with a focus on violin. Growing up in the United States as a Taiwanese immigrant, I have learned about many different cultures and have seen the disparities growing up as a BIPOC person. Coming to UGA, I hope to learn more about music education and explore new things I might be interested in. Being a part of the AARI committee has taught me new information I didn't know before and how to incorporate aspects of activism into the classroom.