EDIB Fall 2020 Report

Wednesday, Jan 20, 2021
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Dear students, faculty, and staff,

With the start of Block 3 and the close of the calendar year, we are writing to share a summary report on the Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging (EDIB) progress during fall 2020. We believe this report is an important step in communicating the continued efforts throughout the school and the work ahead.

Below you will find the Fall 2020 Report, which will also be on our website. The Spring 2021 Report will be circulated at the end of the academic year.

We also want to thank you, our community, for your feedback and involvement in this work. As always, we welcome any additional comments or questions.

Sincerely,
The EDIB Taskforce

Juilliard’s Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Fall 2020 Report

The following report is a summary of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging (EDIB) progress across Juilliard’s departments and divisions during the fall of 2020, which includes Blocks 1 and 2 of the academic year. While this report includes many updates, it is not a complete representation of all current and projected EDIB initiatives. An additional report will be circulated at the end of the academic year.​​​​​

Progress of EDIB Working Groups

To increase feedback and participation in working towards identified priorities, EDIB Working Groups comprising students, faculty, and staff were launched in October 2020. Members were selected following an application announcement in September, and they will serve one-academic-year terms with monthly meetings. In partnership with the EDIB Taskforce, working groups are responsible for providing feedback, liaising with the community, and making recommendations on the further development of our EDIB efforts in two priority areas identified for the 2020-21 academic year: workshop development and bias response.

Workshop Development Working Group

Kimberly Buetzow (she/her), Staff, Draper, Costume Shop
Isabella Geis (she/her), Student, MM '22
June Kim, Staff, Grants Manager, Development
Tina Matin (she/her), Staff, Director, Earned Revenue Operations
Anne-Marie Reynolds (she/her), Faculty, Music History Department
Dave Scanlon, Staff, Senior Circulation Administrator, Library
Cornelia Sommer, Student, DMA '22
Jamie Tuss (she/her), Staff, Assistant Director, Dance and Drama Admissions
Kate Wilson, Faculty, Drama Division
Ashley Yoon (she/her), Student, BM '24

Christina Salgado (she/her), Staff, Director for EDIB Initiatives, Office of the President*
Annie Wu (she/her), Staff, Program Coordinator, Office of the President*

*Group Administrators ​​​​​​
More information on gender pronouns here.

Discussion and Next Steps

  • EDIB at Juilliard: Development of a shared understanding of EDIB within the group as well as mechanisms for sustained engagement with EDIB education across Juilliard.
  • Foundational Workshop: Exploration of creative educational methods for introductory workshops and additional sessions, including interactive activities, video engagement, or discussion groups centered around an artistic experience or outing.
  • Next Steps: Discussion around what constitutes foundational work and the content and shape of additional programming; the group is considering department- or topic- specific education throughout the year on navigating difficult conversations, moving forward from mistakes, understanding the power of language, creating cross-collaboration between departments, and more.

Bias Response Working Group

Marisa Arellano, Staff, Development Associate, Foundation and Corporate Relations
Patrick Cannady, Staff, Administrative Associate, Financial Aid
Irene Dowd, Faculty, Dance Division
Andrew Gaines (he/him), Staff, Director of Opera Activities, Vocal Arts
Alice Ivy-Pemberton (she/her), Student, MM '22
Carmen Johnson-Pájaro (she/her), Student, MM '22
Ulysses Owens Jr. (he/him), Faculty, Small Ensemble Director, Jazz
Brianna Rafidi “Rafidi” (she/her, they/them), Staff, Manager of Performance and Production Activities, Center for Innovation in the Arts
Sophia Steger, Student, BM '21
Catalina Guevara Viquez (she/her), Student, GD '21

Christina Salgado (she/her), Staff, Director for EDIB Initiatives, Office of the President*
Annie Wu (she/her), Staff, Program Coordinator, Office of the President*

*Group Administrators
More information on gender pronouns here.

 

Discussion and Next Steps:

  • Nondiscrimination and Harassment Policy: In partnership with Camille Pajor, Title IX coordinator and bias response officer, review of existing policy to clarify process. Considerations include utilizing examples, visual formats, creative dissemination, and intuitive web locations.
  • Bias Response Webform: Review each step of the webform with recommendations addressing clarity of language and options, process for follow-up, use of reported information, and extent to which individuals must fill out the form to submit.
  • Next Steps: An internal review by Legal and Bias Response and external legal review; following a launch of the updated policy and webform, the group will shape a listening tour projected for March 2021 to gather further feedback.

Ongoing Training for Bias Response Deputies

Bias Response Deputies met throughout the fall to discuss responsibilities which include receiving reports, connecting individuals to resources, assisting in response procedures, and advising community members on the school’s nondiscrimination and harassment policy and processes. Deputies will begin a holistic training program this spring, collaborating with leading institutions that provide training sessions focused on restorative justice principles and practices, navigating difficult conversations, and undoing racism. Additionally, deputies will continue to attend policy review meetings to ensure their understanding and knowledge of the processes, procedures, and rights of all community members.

Office of the President Welcomes New EDIB Program Manager

The Office of the President welcomes Angelica Cortez to the role of EDIB Program Manager. Her responsibilities include facilitating an expanded EDIB workshop curriculum, collaborating with the Preparatory Division on recruitment efforts, and developing mechanisms for tracking and assessment of our efforts School-wide.

Angelica Cortez (she/her) is a youth collaborator and arts administrator. As a Chicana and member of the LGBTQ+ community, she focuses her work on the intersection of music, equity, and youth development. In her previous role with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, she oversaw YOLA National programs, which connect young musicians, artists, educators, and advocates committed to making music education more equitable. During her time in this position, she supported the launch and conception of YOLA National programs, which include a festival, symposium, career development programming, and a series of digital content. Angelica is on the board of El Sistema USA and has degrees in trumpet performance and teaching from UC Davis, Longy School of Music, and Bard College.

Divisional and Departmental EDIB Updates

Part of the work of the EDIB Office is to assist divisions and departments with their EDIB initiatives. The below updates are selections of progress this fall from our artistic divisions and departments:

DANCE DIVISION

  • Dean Alicia Graf Mack initiated conversations with dance history, music studies, and pedagogy faculty members to address inequities and biases in the field and in traditional curriculum structures and pedagogy.
  • The Dance Division hired Darian Parker and musician Talu Green to teach West African Dance with a concentration on traditional dances of Guinea as a requirement for all second-year students.
  • The Dance Division hosted playwright and scholar Claudia Rankine and dancer and choreographer Shamel Pitts in a community-building Event Night on the intersection of the performing arts and social justice.
  • On International Pronouns Day, Graf Mack and Christina Salgado led a dance faculty meeting focusing on gender identity and the use of inclusive language.

DRAMA DIVISION

  • The Drama Anti-Racism Working Group, composed of actors, playwrights, and faculty, continues to meet biweekly to review actions in the division’s anti-racism work and to recommend next steps.
  • Community Meetings included sessions on Talking About Race in Rehearsal and Voice and Dialects and Identity. Visitors included Sarah Bellamy, artistic director of Penumbra Theatre, who spoke about their work in racial healing, and drama alumni who shared their experiences in the profession.
  • Visiting faculty member Michele Shay returned to the division to teach a workshop on acting the works of August Wilson with the third-year actors.

MUSIC DIVISION

  • The Music Division studio faculty and staff created Music by Black Composers: An Introductory Resource with the goal of expanding knowledge and building a more inclusive approach to repertoire. The document presents personal recommendations by participating faculty members as well as annotations about library availability. As this is a living document, additional suggestions may be sent to [email protected].
  • Classical music audition information on the Juilliard webpage now includes language and resources that encourage the inclusion of works by composers from historically underrepresented groups when given a choice. Also, in many departments, faculty have selected specific works by underrepresented composers that are now part of the audition requirements.
  • In Block 2, composers of programmed orchestral works included Anna Clyne, Valerie Coleman, Gabriela Lena Frank, Jessie Montgomery, Carlos Simon, William Grant Still, Joan Tower, and George Walker.
  • The Music Division is concepting a working group of faculty, staff and students dedicated to reviewing the repertoire used in curricula and performance activities within the Division, analyzing how it has evolved and grown over the last decades and making recommendations for future evolution.

Historical Performance

  • A monthly Diversity and Inclusion Roundtable of students and faculty has convened to develop ongoing opportunities to advance EDIB within the department.
  • Faculty member Nina Stern became the HP faculty liaison for EDIB.
  • Guest lecture topics for the HP Symposium included EDIB in HP, Indigenous and Black representation in the Baroque era, and the Black experience in early music today.
  • Faculty member Doug Balliett taught a fall elective for Pre-College students introducing high school juniors and seniors to basic concepts of early music and HP acquired more than a dozen Baroque bows for the use of MAP students, who are being mentored by two HP MAP Fellows.
  • Entrance audition repertoire for violinists now includes one movement of a sinfonia concertante or concerto by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges.

Vocal Arts

  • The department appointed Denyce Graves as distinguished visiting faculty and Jeffrey Page as visiting faculty.
  • Operatic tenor and social justice advocate Lawrence Brownlee led a Zoom master class with a mix of graduate and undergraduate students.
  • For this year’s Liederabend series, a Collaborative Piano-Vocal Arts project, faculty member Lydia Brown encouraged the inclusion of composers from historically underrepresented groups.

Jazz

  • Jazz held four virtual open houses in partnership with Admissions and actively recruited underrepresented prospects to participate.
  • The department programmed a Juilliard Jazz Orchestra rotation to prepare and record recent commissions from composers including Courtney Wright and Miles Lennox.
  • The department updated its audition requirements to include works by William Grant Still, R. Nathaniel Dett, Clara Schumann, and Alyssa Morris.
  • The Jazz Voice Seminar welcomed guests Carmen Bradford and NEA Jazz Master Shelia Jordan. Jordan spoke with graduates about issues of intersectionality in her career.
  • Faculty and staff participated in virtual national jazz education conversations focused on strategies to increase gender and racial diversity among students and faculty in programs, prioritize the Black American roots of jazz and strengthen the presence of blues and swing in its teaching, and create cross-institutional collaboration around EDIB.

EVENING DIVISION

  • The Evening Division expanded the scope of its curriculum to offer several new courses that celebrate the contributions of BIPOC artists, including Satchmo: The Life and Times of Louis Armstrong and The Origins of the Blues: America's Musical Essence, both taught by Reggie Quinerly, and Celebrating Black Playwrights in the American Theater Landscape with Shana Komitee.
  • Advancing Anti-Racist Orchestra Models, a new professional development course for orchestral musicians led by Alex Laing, had 20 participants from 15 major orchestras and ensembles around the world.

PREPARATORY DIVISION

  • All students in the division participated in a course titled Expanding the Canon: Underrepresented Composers led by Trevor Weston and Jane Gottlieb. Students learned how to research these works and composers that have been historically marginalized and created a list of over 400 works by underrepresented composers.
  • In-person student ensembles rehearsed works by George Walker, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, and William Grant Still. Fall guests for online classes included Angélica Negrón and Daniela Candillari.
  • In partnership with the Washington Heights Inwood Music Community Charter School (WHIN), the Preparatory Division has begun a Percussion Practice Buddies Program through which students from Pre-College and the Music Advancement Program—under the guidance of faculty members—serve as weekly practice partners and mentors for third- and fourth-grade students from WHIN.

K–12 PROGRAMS AND INITIATIVES

  • Over the summer, two staff groups were formed, Operations & Business and Artistic & Pedagogical, and teams were tasked with developing anti-racist departmental norms and identifying action items.
  • In reviewing the ˚K–12 pedagogical approach and influences, efforts are in place to better represent gender, ethnicity, and race within materials, including in a newly published online course.

LIBERAL ARTS

  • The Liberal Arts Department has initiated a curricular review focused on making the class offerings and course materials more diverse and inclusive. The department will also investigate pedagogical practice through an EDIB lens.
  • This fall, Liberal Arts hosted, in conjunction with the Office of the President (EDIB), a series entitled Camp Juilliard Continues: The Election Version featuring sessions on Getting Involved: How to Register to Vote and Vote by Mail, Politics and the Courts, Politics in the Street, and Understanding the Electoral College.

Another Year of Partnership with Sphinx

Juilliard is excited to have collaborated with the Sphinx Organization for a second year. This summer, Juilliard offered Sphinx Performance Academy, a full-scholarship intensive string performance program with a focus on cultural diversity. Twenty musicians ages 11-17 participated in the virtual program. In October, Juilliard hosted Sphinx LEAD (Leaders in Excellence, Arts & Diversity), a two-year leadership program designed to provide arts administrators of color with mentorship, networking, and leadership opportunities.

Check out this article, which will give you a glimpse into our summer collaboration.

Lastly, Juilliard is pleased to participate in SphinxConnect 2021: Unity at the end of this month, with many alumni and staff presenting throughout the conference. The virtual convening will contain a variety of sessions creating space for robust conversations to further EDIB efforts in the arts field at large. Check out the full schedule here.

Contact Us

We welcome feedback on EDIB initiatives at any time. Please send comments or questions to [email protected].