“For decades, orchestras and conservatories of music across the country have struggled to recruit ethnic minorities to their ranks. Now, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded a $900,000 grant to the Cincinnati Symphony and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music to help address that problem,” writes Janelle Gelfand in Friday’s (7/17) Cincinnati Enquirer. “A new initiative will establish a groundbreaking fellowship program aimed at providing opportunities for under-served musicians at the graduate level. The intent is to help prepare them for the exceedingly competitive world of professional orchestras. The pilot program will start in the fall of 2016…. Across the country, just 2 percent of American orchestra musicians are black. When you add Latino musicians, the number rises to 4.5 percent, according to a 2012 report of the League of American Orchestras.… ‘There is a significant gap between the pre-professional and the professional worlds…. It’s that bridge that we’re trying to create,’ said the CSO’s [president Trey] Devey. Starting in 2016, the four-year pilot program will award full scholarships and stipends for up to 10 graduate-level string musicians, who are simultaneously enrolled in CCM’s master’s or artist diploma degree programs.”
Posted July 20, 2015
