The identitarian left wing wants to “cancel” classical music.
Recently, the League of American Orchestras (LAO) released a guideline incorporating the concepts of diversity, equity, and inclusion into the artistic programming of orchestras.
This guideline “proposes practical strategies for orchestras that want to diversify their repertoire presentation, drawing on interviews from orchestras with budgets of all sizes.”
While many advocate concerts with greater diversity and more inclusive programming, that particular guideline involves artistic planning.
“The problem with the publication is that it destroys meritocracy in repertoire and places a heavy burden on arts organizations to choose diversity over compositional merit,” writes Joshua Nichols in an article published in Issue 153 of Revista Oeste.
The “Catalyst Guide,” the document’s official name, examines philosophies, challenges, factors for success, and the programming-related resources that have emerged thus far in orchestras’ journey to program equity.
The language seems harmless. No doubt, orchestras need to consider many challenges and factors.
However, LAO’s moral stance is clear and reflects the modern left.
“DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION”
Kerrien Suarez’s comments in the preface confirm this.
“Most of the work has focused on the prospect of increasing representation through guest artists from historically underrepresented communities,” she writes.
“This is an ‘outside-in’ strategy that can be executed with little or no change in the organization’s internal values, leadership, and operations.”
“The ‘Catalyst Guide’ challenges orchestra conductors to adopt artistic planning practices that promote transformation from the ‘inside out,’ going beyond the representation we see and hear on stage.”
“What Kerrien advocates is not good for orchestras’ artistic planning,” says Nichols.
“Historically speaking, orchestras planned a bit of something old with a bit of something new in their seasons. But even then, what orchestras planned were the best compositions of the last half-century.”
“Although it is a fact that Beethoven was a white European, his music is not. His music simply cannot be considered ‘white’ indistinctly because of the composer’s many influences: Italian dance, German baroque court music, rococo France, and many, many other factors.”
“His music has survived simply because it is excellent.”
With information from Revista Oeste