Demand Tenure Reform - Support Black Orchestral Musicians

Dear American Orchestras,

In May 2022, the Black Orchestral Network (BON) issued a letter calling on American orchestras and the anchors of the American orchestral community to reckon with both the history of bias, exclusion, and indignity, as well as the current realities and barriers, faced by Black orchestral musicians in sharing their extensive talents and skills. Thousands joined our call to action for American orchestras to honor and center your moral and artistic commitments: to build and sustain spaces where Black musicians’ unique artistic contributions belong and thrive; to hire Black musicians and support their development; and to fully embed and be accountable for practices that promote respect, fairness, grace, and equity.

Despite your stated desire for greater inclusion and dignity, barriers and biases persist and, in 2023, are manifest in explicit and tangible ways, including in the unfair denial of tenure to multiple Black musicians. Unfortunately, concerns about respect and fairness in the tenure process for Black musicians are both present and longstanding, extending back at least as far as Elayne Jones’s well-documented struggles in 1972.

And so, we take up the pen once again to spotlight the many failings of the tenure process. We conducted a listening tour to receive guidance and better understand the lived experiences of Black orchestral musicians across America. Many of our stories highlight and underscore the concerns about dignity, equity, respect, transparency, and inclusion in the tenure process. And while grounded in and too often experienced by Black orchestral musicians, these accounts also speak to challenges faced by all non-tenured musicians.

A year and a half ago, we wrote words that remain true today: “We cannot call ourselves an American orchestral community if we are not inclusive of Black Americans and do not respect and acknowledge Black Americans’ contributions to American music and the orchestral community.” Exclusion harms orchestras – artistically, spiritually, and financially – and a practice of exclusion can generate a practice of exit. Talented Black musicians are already exiting orchestras because of unfair and abusive experiences. We must invest in and commit to a different path forward: one that honors the talents, personhood, and community that enrich and sustain American orchestras.