This article is the first in a series showcasing student and alumni-led initiatives championing equity in the arts. The series will focus on three fundamental questions: What does an anti-oppressive culture look like in the arts? Where are such spaces already being built? And, what are the most important next steps that will bring the music industry closer to that ideal?
“Art will only flourish if people feel like they're able to be their most authentic selves,” shares Anika Venkatesh, a University of Toronto undergraduate and member of the recently-founded Anti-Racism Alliance in the Arts (ARIA). ARIA is a non-profit functioning as an external partner organization to the Faculty of Music Anti-Racism Alliance (FoMARA), a youth organization founded in 2020 by students committed to bringing about change in their community by championing efforts against inequality and systemic racism. Formed in response to racial injustices against Black and Indigenous people in North America, FoMARA is founded on the principles of Acknowledgement, Community, Change, Equality, Belonging, and Diversity. I recently met for a conversation with four of ARIA’s current members: Nikitha James, Priscilla Menezes, Aishwarya Patel, and Anika Venkatesh.
“The momentum for anti-racism and equity work, a year ago, was at an all-time high,” Venkatesh says. “I hope that with ARIA we can continue that momentum.” Patel explains that “the ideal dream is, of course, to dissolve racism within our communities as much as we can and completely eradicate it.” She suggests that more diversity in upper administration, especially the inclusion of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour) and people of different genders, is an important goal for institutions to aim towards. “Once we have diversity at that level, it feeds into and promotes and encourages the same diversity within the student community.” James describes other actions ARIA would like to see institutions take, including: collecting data about problems faced by marginalized students and staff; overhauling curriculum and programming to reflect the reality of racialized people; and finally, increasing funding for outreach programs and scholarships. “Once all those changes have been made, then it’s time to reach out,” James clarifies. “We want to see more BIPOC, but [not] if the [institution] is an unsafe place. The order is important.”
“The most important thing for us now is facilitating spaces that are inclusive and welcoming to BIPOC. Ultimately, our goal is to support other human beings who are going through the same [experiences] that we are.”
- Nikitha James
Venkatesh says ARIA wants to see university music programs become places where anyone, but especially BIPOC students, can feel empowered. Currently, with such a strong emphasis on “mimicking past leaders” and on hierarchical relationships with master teachers, students end up less able to embrace their own individual identities and skill sets. Instead, Venkatesh suggests that institutions engage students with “what we are passionate about, and how we [can not only make] a career out of that, but also support other musicians in the community with that knowledge.” Venkatesh points to U of T alumni-led groups Marigold Music and Opera InReach, which focus less on a “typical university education structure” and more on students’ unique needs and interests. “The most important thing for us now is facilitating spaces that are inclusive and welcoming to BIPOC,” James adds. “Ultimately, our goal is to support other human beings who are going through the same [experiences] that we are.”
Read on for the group’s thoughts on the current state of anti-racism work in music education and the music industry:
Nikitha James:
A lot of the time anti-oppressive spaces are small and it's usually because of a few individuals, not because of a big organization. It can be something like a single teacher’s classroom or even a group of friends or a jam session or one of our club meetings. I think those [anti-oppressive] worlds, we can see them more in the theatre community, and in other art spaces outside of music. These worlds are starting to get built, but I think we’re really in the inception stages of having these kind of anti-oppressive spaces existing [in music institutions]. [Through ARIA] we want to be able to foster an understanding from the people that are in power and help them understand the human importance to these situations. We do have a lot of policy suggestions, but I think at the core of those suggestions is the hope that one day students of color can exist in a space without instantly being othered because of the white default that exists in our communities, and start to feel welcome and supported, either in the industry or in our education.
Aishwarya Patel:
We want to create meaningful spaces for dialogue to empower people. Often in these [institutional] spaces people who are marginalized don’t know each other—we’re scared to reach out, because of how the structure is and who’s running the show. [ARIA wants] to create these spaces for BIPOC people, but we also want to create spaces where people from the white community can learn. We need to see change overall, and I think that’s only possible if people listen to real experiences and stories. It's different when you’re just reading an article or a bunch of stats—you don’t feel that human experience and you can’t relate it to yourself. [We want people to] know how to approach discussions and communicate in different situations in which these problems are exacerbated.
Priscilla Menezes:
Especially in institutions [where] this hierarchy exists, something that’s really important is prioritizing a collaborative process, and knowing that within discussions, BIPOC voices are valued and their lived experiences are placed at the forefront. When we talk about our dream world, I think for us that’s a big thing. And that’s something that within FoMARA and ARIA we’re really trying to push: that the lived experiences and the voices of BIPOC do hold greater weight, and those experiences should be at the forefront when it comes to these sort of initiatives. Even within [groups] that are committed to this sort of change, you can still [be] less effective because you’re not coming at it from a human point of view. You’re coming at everything from policy, you’re coming at everything from this very formal process. Without that element of human lived experiences I think a lot of it gets lost. Because we’re making all these policy changes—but how are actual human beings being affected?
Anika Venkatesh:
Not everything has to be discourse, some things are just conversations and real experiences that should be taken in a genuine way. [And] not all voices, not all experiences, should [hold] the same relevance—because these issues don't affect everyone the same. If we’re focusing less on equity and more on everyone [being] treated the same or everyone's voice in these spaces [being] listened to equally, it can actually put BIPOC or any marginalized group that's being discussed in an actively harmful space. When we’re trying to discuss the greater policy, if we’re not approaching it in a way that might serve as a model for that policy, then there’s no point in even having that space exist in the first place. We want, first and foremost, for that humanity to be preserved, even if we’re operating as a non-profit organization, even if we’re working within institutions.
For more information:
https://www.uoftfomara.org
https://www.marigoldmusicprogram.com
https://www.operainreach.com
Image: pictured clockwise from top left Nikitha James, Aishwarya Patel, Priscilla Menezes and Anika Venkatesh
EQUITY, DIVERSITY & INCLUSION AT THE FACULTY OF MUSIC |
ACCESSIBILITY |
CONTACT