Last semester, Students for Actionable Anti-Racism and Inclusion (AARI) at the Hugh Hodgson School of Music facilitated Tunes In, a series of open conversations and opportunities to gather input, information, and ideas from the HHSOM community. We wish to begin 2021 by providing some information about that initiative, and let you know some of the plans moving forward.
About Tunes In
46 individuals participated by completing the open survey and/or attending one of five open conversations.
The opportunities were designed to achieve three primary goals:
21 separate actionable ideas arose from these opportunities!
What We Learned
Participants appreciated the chance for conversation and want that to continue!
We recognize the timing of the series was not at the most ideal time during the semester (especially in a COVID-affected learning environment). However, we learned that even if just one person shares their thoughts, that means it was a valuable opportunity.
We acknowledge feedback about the ineffectiveness of virtual spaces for engagement. We learned that more of our planning should be devoted to creative solutions for format and logistics to ensure meaningful work can occur during the pandemic.
What We’re Doing Now
AARI has committed to the following actions for Spring 2021:
Support solo/student recitals that feature diverse repertoire by engaging in a short talk with the performer–during the performance–about the piece(s)/composer and their experience preparing. We will communicate soon about how to get involved in this initiative, which we feel achieves many positive outcomes, including practice talking to audiences, and promoting a greater sense of engagement as virtual performance offerings continue.
Sponsor continued conversations. We’re working to develop monthly opportunities for the same type of connection we found in the Tunes In series. We’re committed to making sure these are approachable, safe, and engaging places to share, or to just listen and learn.
Meet with other student diversity groups from other Schools of Music. We are committed to collaboration and interested in learning what other institutions are doing. We’ll be devoting 2-3 of our committee meetings this semester to continuing our own education as we work to find the best ways to facilitate community within our own school.
Release playlists for HHSOM listening. We’ll be using some of our #featurefriday blog posts to share playlists highlighting marginalized composers from a variety of mediums. We hope this will be helpful and useful to our community!
Perform! Look for AARI to join together in a musical performance representative of our mission.
Present! We are working to develop materials for prospective students to let them know about the meaningful work occurring by students, for students at HHSOM.
We sent a full Tunes In report to HHSOM Administration with action recommendations:
Provide faculty training on these issues by contracting with a professional, outside source.
Encourage faculty initiation of conversations with students in efforts to learn and listen.
Engage in frequent and transparent communication about ongoing diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging efforts within HHSOM.
Revise our website and publicity to be more reflective of existing diversity within HHSOM (people and performance ensembles).
Create better programming and performance opportunities for existing groups (AACE, Gamelan, jazz, etc.).
Include diversity and equity language in course evaluations and rely on these more for faculty evaluation and goal setting.
Move away from value-judgement, othering language in favor of language that promotes a broad definition of music and speaks to the fact that our school aims to prepare students for a real-world, diverse environment (not simply conservatories).
Undertake serious performance and curriculum reform and communicate about those efforts.
We are proposing the following actions for partnership between AARI and HHSOM:
Provide student training opportunities by contracting with professional, outside sources. This opportunity might run concurrently with the faculty training opportunities. As a big dream, we hope that a major 3-5 day event/retreat can be planned for HHSOM (or all arts at UGA; possibly as the focus or replacement for Spotlight on the Arts). This might include a TED/TEDx-type event for sharing stories, and/or major performance/residency by artist(s) from marginalized communities.
Mentorship program with prospective students where HHSOM students pair with applicants who might not otherwise have access to help with audition preparation, application completion, etc. We feel these peer-to-peer opportunities, coordinated with HHSOM Admission efforts could be a meaningful way to help increase the access that students from marginalized populations have to HHSOM, thus creating a richer, more diverse experience for all Dawgs.
We appreciate everyone who took time to engage with Tunes In during November 2020. We hope you’ll stay alert for more opportunities from AARI this semester, especially information on how to partner with us for your recital/performance, and chances to come together in conversation!
You can view this summary as a PDF here: