Just in: Black orchestral musicians get organised in the US

Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians has thrown its backing behind a Black Orchestral Network (BON) that has organised to improve opportunities in US orchestras.

Here’s the opening statement from Juilliard Dean, Weston Sprott:

We decided to build BON, capitalizing on this moment of shared awakening and utilizing our first-hand, professional experiences. Beginning with the open letter below — and continuing with a website, listening tour, calls to action, a podcast series, and convenings — BON aims to aggregate and amplify the needs and perspectives of Black musicians.

Throughout our careers, we have experienced racism at each turn: the requisite exceptionalism needed to navigate systems designed to exclude us, the prolonging and denial of tenure for reasons never explained, and even nooses hung at our lockers. With regard to the absence of Blackness in American orchestras, our community has heard much noise but seen little action. Recalling violinist Sanford Allen — after becoming the first Black full-time member of the New York Philharmonic in 1962, he resigned in 1977 because he was “simply tired of being a symbol.” The same year Mr. Allen joined the orchestra, famed Boston Symphony harpist Ann Hobson Pilot had the following interaction with her white teacher: “Sometimes during a lesson, when she thought I was playing especially well, she would say, ‘Annie’ — she called me Annie — ‘when you were playing just now, I forgot that you were Black for a minute.’”

We want something different for the next generation. We want them to know they are not alone, and we want others to support the cause of building an inclusive environment for Black people in the orchestral field.

Read more here.