EDIB Spring 2022 Report

Sunday, Dec 04, 2022
Share on:

December 9, 2022

Dear Juilliard students, faculty, and staff,

Reports compiled by the Office of EDIB highlight just some of the ways in which Juilliard’s core value of EDIB is being embodied and animated throughout our community.

This report provides a summary of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging (EDIB) initiatives within and across Juilliard departments and divisions since Fall 2021. In taking stock of what has been done, we are able to envision how this work can expand and further take root at Juilliard.

We thank you for your commitment to EDIB at Juilliard, and hope for your continued and integral participation in programs and initiatives in the future.

Sincerely,

Office of EDIB

 

 

OFFICE OF EDIB

  • The EDIB Foundational Workshop continues to be offered in the onboarding of all new faculty and staff.
  • Nine workshops for ongoing EDIB development were held which were attended by 138 faculty and staff members. Virtual workshops held during this reporting period included:
    • Fostering Belonging at Work” with Patricia Hewlin
    • “Understanding Academic Accommodations” with Keri Gray
    • “Tools for Inclusive Learning Environments” with Crime Victims Treatment Center
    • “Understanding and Maintaining a Performing Artist's Sense of Their Cultural Identity within Their Career” with Lecolion Washington
    • “Community Circles for Social Change” with Olajiwon McCadney
  • In July, Ria (Ariana) DasGupta, EdD, was hired as the Director of EDIB. Christina Salgado, the first Director of EDIB for Juilliard, departed in Spring 2022.

EDIB COUNCIL

  • The EDIB Taskforce was assembled in June 2019 to spearhead the work and values of EDIB at Juilliard. The Taskforce originally comprised staff and faculty members from across the school who met monthly to explore best practices, review recommendations, and develop strategies that connected current efforts with ongoing planning and development. The EDIB Taskforce was central to developing the EDIB Foundational Workshop and the EDIB pillar of the Juilliard Strategic Plan. After the initial charge of the Task Force was deemed complete, a new iteration of the group was suggested in Fall 2021. With expanded representation from departments and divisions and a renewed charge, the EDIB Council will launch in Fall 2022.

 

STUDENT DEVELOPMENT

Student Diversity Initiatives

  • The Diversity Advocates (DAs) continued to provide strong peer leadership on campus on diverse topics relating to diversity and inclusion, and maintained a robust student attendance during their EDIB focused passive and active programs.
  • The DAs hosted 18 programs this spring, all of which were strategically focused with an EDIB lens. Some program highlights include our Diversity Dialogues, heritage month celebrations, advocacy programs, and our newly formed Diversity Roundtables, which is a student-led discussion and support group.
  • Student Diversity Initiatives will welcome four new DAs, representing all academic levels and disciplines for the 2022-23 school year.

Community Engagement

  • Students created final "Unessay" projects as an example of culturally responsive pedagogy in action. Student projects included: an original composition and recording of a three-song song cycle about teaching; crafts-based explorations of pedagogical knowledge (knitting, baking); podcasts; and original board games.
  • A facilitator from Health Resources in Action (Boston, MA) led a workshop for Community Engagement, K-12 Programs and Initiatives, and Preparatory Division on the pedagogical framework of Creative Youth Development.
  • Morse Teaching Artist Fellows led a series of workshops at multiple NYC elementary and middle schools ("PEPS", Performing Educational Programs in Schools) around “found sounds”—the sounds that students heard and were interested in within their own respective spaces. The project elevated, amplified, and empowered each student's cultural and artistic voice.
  • Gluck Community Fellowship Ensembles presented 292 interdisciplinary performances of their own design at community sites across NYC and beyond, drawing upon their identity and agency as artists, as well as their ongoing relationships with the audiences they serve.
  • The Office of Community Engagement provided access to free educational programming (classes, lessons, performances) across the globe -- Dance Masterworks, Young People's Concert Series, educational workshops, practice buddies, music theory mentors.

DANCE DIVISION

  • The Dance Division completed a three-year plan to update the curriculum to create an arc of dance education that encompasses foundational techniques while introducing contemporary 21st century styles and ideas. The values of EDIB stood at the forefront of this comprehensive restructuring.
  • In Spring 2022, the Dance Division welcomed BIPOC guest artists including Nigel Campbell, Raja Feather Kelly, Jason Staten for Camille A. Brown, Yin Yue, Sidra Bell, Jonathan Alsberry, Francesca Harper, Jesse Obremski, Karisma Jay, Juliano Nunes, and Edivaldo Ernesto.
  • The Dance Division’s New Dances: Edition 2021 performance featured three of four commissions of BIPOC artists Caili Quan, Rena Butler, and Norbert De La Cruz III. Spring Dances 2022 celebrated the work of ground-breaking female choreographers, Aszure Barton, Trisha Brown, and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar.
  • The 2022 Summer Dance Intensive trained 43 high school age artists who received a sampling of the Division’s multi-faceted approach to dance education. Classes included Limón, Horton, Graham, Ballet, Classical and Contemporary Partnering, Pointe, Allegro, Hip-Hop, West African, and Improvisation. The intensive culminated in a free performance for the general public in Damrosch Park in Lincoln Center, and featured the work of alumni Madison Hicks (Dance ’18) and Ethan Colangelo (Dance ’19) and acclaimed choreographer, Hope Boykin.
  • In an effort to increase community outreach and engagement, Juilliard Dance partnered with Ballet Tech, a New York City public performing arts school, and provided a two-week improvisation intensive led by 4th year students, Eleni Loving and Morgan Clune. Additionally, Juilliard Dance established a choreographic fellows program with LaGuardia High School where 4th year dancer, Scott Autry, created a work for their graduating class.
  • Throughout the school year, Dance students participated in several cross-divisional opportunities including ChoreoComp, Who’s in the Lobby, Open House performances in the President’s Lobby, membership events, and the Spring Gala with new work choreographed by Hope Boykin. In April 2022, Dance students performed alongside their Music colleagues in the Blues in Classical Music lecture-demonstration at the Atrium in Lincoln Center

DRAMA DIVISION

  • Over the summer of 2021, the Drama Division revised its attendance policy with an eye to clarity and equity. The Division revised language in Admissions instructions with an eye to encouraging an expansion of diversity in audition material.
  • Rehearsal and performance projects in 2021-2022 included work by writers including Christopher Chen, Eisa Davis, Lydia R. Diamond, and Lynn Nottage. Directors included Jimonn Cole, taneisha duggan, Kareem Fahmy, Melissa Mowry, Dawn Akemi Saito, Derrick Sanders, recently appointed Associate Director of the Drama Division, and Shaun Patrick Tubbs. Alumni Eboni Booth and Tony Meneses wrote two of three short films created for our fourth-year actors. Derrick Sanders and Michelle Bossy each directed one of the films. Natasha Soto-Albors joined the Drama Division as Producer of the films.
  • Two second-year rehearsal projects dealing with the AIDS pandemic were filmed for inclusion in the documentary Ghost Lights: Reclaiming Theater in the Age of AIDS. Olivia Reinebach joined the production of Raft of the Medusa as the Artistic Sign Language Consultant. Professional actors Leland Fowler and Javier Muñoz met with the students to share their experiences and approaches to living in the worlds of these plays.
  • This year we began the design for upcoming Drama Division renovations, which will include eliminating the architectural gender binary of our dressing rooms. Over the summer of 2022, we added an accessible ramp and automatic door to the Stephanie P. McClelland Theater to provide greater access to the stage itself.

MUSIC DIVISION

  • This was another banner year for the Juilliard Orchestra, which included a broadening of repertoire and artistic voice of excellence. The Juilliard Orchestra and Juilliard Jazz Orchestra gave their first-ever joint performance of Wynton Marsalis’ Swing Symphony led by David Robertson at Carnegie Hall. The Juilliard Orchestra welcomed Gustavo Dudamel of the LA Philharmonic for a special reading of Schumann’s Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major. Juilliard Orchestra conductors included Mei-Ann Chen, Kevin John Edusei, Barbara Hannigan, and Eun Sun Kim. Juilliard Orchestra and AXIOM performed works by Marcos Balter, Anthony Braxton, Scott Joplin, Texu Kim, Tania León, George Lewis, Wynton Marsalis, Jessie Montgomery, Samy Moussa, Jeffrey Mumford, and Florence Price.
  • The Music Division studio faculty and staff continue to update 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.
  • The Ivalas Quartet was named Juilliard’s graduate resident string quartet, beginning in September 2022. Violinists Reuben Kebede and Tiani Butts, violist Aimée McAnulty, and cellist Pedro Sánchez make up the ensemble, which was founded in 2017 at the University of Michigan. Dedicated to the celebration of BIPOC voices, Ivalas seeks to disrupt the classical music world by continuously spotlighting BIPOC composers such as Jessie Montgomery, Daniel Bernard Roumain, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, and Eleanor Alberga.
  • For the fourth year, Juilliard hosted the Sphinx Performance Academy which is a full-scholarship intensive summer chamber music and solo performance program with a focus on cultural diversity for string musicians ages 11-17. Curriculum included lessons, masterclasses, recitals, career enrichment sessions, and mentorship tailored to each student. Running from July 7-20, 2022, SPA Juilliard’s curriculum included chamber orchestra and a solo repertoire focus and was for violin, viola, cello, and bass players.
  • The Juilliard Community Chorus, led by Adrian O. Rodriguez, continued to engage participants of all experience and skill levels in fundamental aural, vocal, and aesthetic capacities of choral music. Through the performance of diverse repertoire and community-driven approaches to ensemble, the chorus is grounded in a culture of creative collaboration and a musical practice of inclusion and belonging.
  • Since 2019, the annual National Sawdust mentorship and commissioning initiative has connected Juilliard student composers with career and project mentorship from outstanding women composers. In 2021-22, the Juilliard Blueprint Fellowship commissioned Sofia Ouyang, Forrest Eimold, and Christian-Frédéric Bloquert to explore collaboration, extra-musical themes, entrepreneurial project creation, and generally out-of-the-box thinking with real-world applications to a dream work under the mentorship of composers Claire Chase, Laura Kaminsky, and Amy Beth Kirsten. The pieces were workshopped and performed by the National Sawdust Ensemble at National Sawdust in February 2022.

Historical Performance

  • Historical Performance (HP) continued its series of symposium talks emphasizing questions of colonialism and marginalized voices in the early modern period with guests including Loren Ludwig on early American repertoire and David McCormick on the Black fiddlers of Monticello.
  • To reinforce its commitment to Music Advancement Program (MAP), HP provided every member of the MAP string ensemble with a baroque bow, and an HP student established a baroque ensemble with the MAP students. Up to 20 baroque string instruments are now available for MAP students.
  • HP commissioned Francisco Nuñez to write MAP: A New World for the MAP chorus and Juilliard415, which was given its first public performance in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on May 14.
  • HP partnered with the Sphinx Performance Academy (SPA) at Juilliard. Each of the 29 students was introduced to the concepts of HP by baroque violinist and teacher Maria Romero, with faculty assistance from HP students Gustavo Antoniacomi, Carmen Johnson-Pájaro, and Vivan Mayers. Following rehearsals and workshops, the SPA ensemble presented a short recital entirely on baroque instruments.

Jazz

  • The inclusion of the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra with the Juilliard Orchestra at , Carnegie Hall concert on February 23 was a highlight of the 20th anniversary year. Wynton Marsalis’ Swing Symphony was the vehicle for this collaboration.
  • The March 2022 residency at Chelsea Factory included students, alumni, and faculty performing works by diverse composers and eras.
  • The May 2022 Dizzy’s Club residency of the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra included jazz versions of works from Africa, Asia, and Europe by composer Duke Ellington. 
  • Juilliard Jazz produced a performance, panel discussion, and workshop in July with a diverse ensemble comprising Dance, Vocal Arts, and Jazz Studies students. They performed in North Carolina for the International Talent Hunt during the Omega Psi Phi Grand Conclave.
  • Additionally, Jazz was featured in an NPR Tiny Desk Concert with compositions by Geri Allen, Endea Owens, and Isaiah J. Thompson, two of whom are alumni, as well as an original composition by a student, Coby Petricone-Berg. 

Vocal Arts

  • The Vocal Arts department is participating in the Denyce Graves Foundation’s inaugural Shared Voices initiative, which pairs conservatories and historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Shared Voices began planning over the summer, and two Vocal Arts students will participate in the first-ever cohort over the course of the 2022-2023 school year, with Brian Zeger and Andrew Gaines facilitating the administrative planning on behalf of Juilliard. Dean David Ludwig and Brian Zeger will attend the launch event at Howard University in late September.
  • Distinguished visiting faculty member Denyce Graves led several residencies and two master classes with Vocal Arts singers in the Spring 2022 semester. One master class was focused on undergraduate students and open only to members of the Vocal Arts community, and the second master class featured MM/GD singers and was livestreamed on the Juilliard website. Distinguished visiting faculty member Lawrence Brownlee led a remote residency period with Vocal Arts singers in March 2022.
  • Guest Coach Javier Arrebola joined the Vocal Arts and Collaborative Piano departments to lead a Liederabend in Spring 2022 entitled “From Iberia to Latin America: A Journey through the Spanish Language,” featuring the music of Spanish and Latin American composers.
  • Kayo Iwama joined the Vocal Arts faculty for the 2022-2023 school year, where she will teach the course "German Vocal Literature." Kayo also joined the Vocal Arts and Collaborative Piano departments on the final Liederabend of the 2021-2022 school year. She coached 5 singer-pianist duos over several weeks and the students prepared a program that featured a diverse array of American music.
     

JUILLIARD EXTENSION DIVISION

  • Juilliard Extension collaborated with the League of American Orchestras to present the Essentials of Orchestra Management Seminar. The seminar required all guest presenters to consider their respective content through the lens of EDIB values. This year's group of guest presenters and participants represented a highly diverse group of professionals in the orchestra field.

PREPARATORY DIVISION

  • Valerie Coleman served as the Preparatory Division's composer-in-residence for the 2021-2022 academic year. During her residency, she spent time working with chamber groups and composition students, and performed on a MAP faculty recital. Her work Umoja was performed by the Pre-College Orchestra at Alice Tully Hall, and her residency concluded with the premiere performance of a commission for the MAP Wind Ensemble titled The Calling of the Wind!. The commissioning and premiere of The Calling of the Wind! by Valerie Coleman was made possible through the BandQuest® program of the American Composers Forum, funded with generous support, in part, from the National Endowment for the Arts and the I.A. O’Shaughnessy Foundation.
  • The Preparatory Division was awarded the Sphinx Venture Fund for their proposed collaboration, Composing Inclusion, with the New York Philharmonic and the American Composers Forum. The three organizations will co-commission works that bring together multiple generations, musical levels, perspectives, and community members in the creation and performance of new music. With generous funding from the Sphinx Venture Fund, nine music creators who identify as Black and/or Latinx will be commissioned to create “flexible” or adaptable scores for different musical levels. The nine commissioned works will be developed in collaboration with Juilliard students and Philharmonic artists over the course of several months; all will receive New York side-by-side premieres. The cohort of composers was recently selected. You can learn more about them here.
  • This summer, a cohort of current and former Preparatory Division students joined the Chineke! Junior Orchestra for their first ever European Tour. The students participated in an intensive week-long rehearsal period at Dulwich College in London before performing at the Lucerne Festival, Berlin Konzerthaus, and Amsterdam's Concertgebouw. Chineke! Junior Orchestra is a youth orchestra of Black and ethnically diverse players, ages 11-22. It was founded in 2015 with the aim of creating opportunities for emerging and established musicians of Black and ethnically diverse heritage.

Music Advancement Program

  • For the first time ever, the Preparatory Division held a joint commencement ceremony, celebrating graduates from both Pre-College and the Music Advancement Program (MAP). In a shift from past practice, students in the MAP now receive Juilliard diplomas signed by the President, Dean and Director of the Preparatory Division, and MAP's Artistic Director, recognizing their achievements as Juilliard students. Wynton Marsalis was the commencement speaker. 
  • On May 14, MAP and Juilliard Historical Performance joined forces to present the premiere of MAP: A New World, a commission for Juilliard 415 and the MAP Chorus composed by Francisco J. Nunez with libretto by Monique Truong. The performance, which took place at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, was conducted Francisco Nuñez. The chorus was prepared by MAP Chorus Director Adrian O. Rodriguez and featured soloist Joseph Parrish, Bass-Baritone.
  • On April 30, the Music Advancement Program officially celebrated its 30th Anniversary at its year end Wind Ensemble and Orchestra concert. The program included remarks from Damian Woetzel and Joseph Polisi, as well as numerous other administrators, faculty members, and alums who have been a part of MAP's history. The program included a solo appearance from MAP alum Abdulrahman Amer and the premiere of a newly commissioned work by Valerie Coleman.

Sphinx Performance Academy

  • Juilliard accepted and welcomed 29 students to the 14-day Sphinx Performance Academy (SPA) program from July 7-20, 2022. This number has grown from our last in person session in 2019 when 20 students participated in a ten-day program.
  • SPA welcomed three guest artists and lecturers, three masterclass teachers, and ten faculty members of color, including two Juilliard Historical Performance students who acted as faculty members for the newly implemented baroque program.
  • SPA introduced a new baroque program element to the program, creating opportunity and access to all of the students to play on baroque instruments and baroque bows loaned by the Juilliard Historical Performance Department. They had chamber ensemble rehearsals and received lessons in baroque performance style.
  • SPA held two final recitals instead of one which allowed more opportunity for each student to showcase solo performances. Additionally, recitals included a baroque chamber orchestra performance and a modern chamber orchestra performance.

K-12 PROGRAMS AND INITIATIVES 

  • After reviewing the department's published lesson plans with an EDIB lens, K-12 Programs and Initiatives have implemented updates to one-third of content. This review will continue until all lessons have been updated.
  • With guidance from Christina Salgado, the department designed and implemented a community-driven protocol for regularly gathering input from its team related to EDIB. In piloting the first cycle of input, a working group led an exploration of “belonging” and how this is brought to bear on the department’s policies. Next steps include another round of exploring belonging and how this can be fostered in the department’s operations and working norms.

LIBERAL ARTS

  • The department’s primary goal has been to broaden the scope of course offerings. For example, last spring the department offered a class on Asian American experience entitled "Asian American Literature and Film." This semester, the department is offering a LGBTQ+ focused class entitled "Out in America."
  • For the ninth year, the department co-sponsored the MLK Speaker Series last January: "The Arts, Community Engagement, and Social Change.” The series featured community members Weston Sprott, Alice Jones, and Aaron Flagg, with Renée Baron as the moderator.
  • The faculty hosted a forum entitled "MLK, John Lewis, and Voting Rights in the 21st Century." Renée Baron facilitated, and faculty members Amy Evans and Anita Mercier spoke before the discussion opened up to the entire Juilliard community.
  • Drama alumna Nija Okora did a talk on her experience of playing the female roles in the August Wilson Century Cycle.