{"id":2509,"date":"2019-10-04T13:22:40","date_gmt":"2019-10-04T17:22:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.icsom.org\/senzasordino\/?p=2509"},"modified":"2019-10-05T10:56:00","modified_gmt":"2019-10-05T14:56:00","slug":"advancing-inclusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.icsom.org\/senzasordino\/2019\/10\/advancing-inclusion\/","title":{"rendered":"Advancing Inclusion"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo credit: David Finlayson<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

O<\/span>ver the past year, orchestras have mobilized in significant ways to create pathways into the field for musicians of color. Orchestras, working together with funders, educational institutions, and professional organizations, have forged strong alliances to solidify pathways towards greater diversity. While these efforts to reach outward are crucial for advancing diversity, it is equally vital for orchestras to look inward at strengthening inclusion.<\/p>\n

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Photo credit: Courtesy of Shea Scruggs<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Musicians must lead this work. They are the gatekeepers to diversity and the tone-setters of inclusion. Many musicians underestimate their ability to advance inclusion. In our work with musicians and organizations, we have observed several creative ways musicians can take the lead towards creating more inclusive ensembles.<\/p>\n

Change The Job Postings (And Your Mindsets)<\/b><\/p>\n

Most orchestral job postings are logistical and informational, containing nothing more than the organization name, job title, audition dates, and some contact information. While this approach helps managers efficiently disseminate information, it forgoes an opportunity for musicians to reflect on and communicate what they value.<\/p>\n

Musicians should take ownership of this aspect of the hiring process, drafting organizational descriptions that inspire and attract. What qualities are you looking for in a new colleague, besides being an excellent musician? What is the musical and aesthetic philosophy of your ensemble? Musicians are more than cogs in a machine. Draft job descriptions that reflect the vitality and dynamism that musicians bring to the stage every night.<\/p>\n

Inclusion starts before the audition. A sparse and logistical posting gives the message that musicians in this orchestra are chosen to play, not to think or engage. This inadvertent message is a barrier to inclusion hiding in plain sight, and it limits how musicians perceive their ability to connect with colleagues, audiences and communities. It suggests that musicians can only be valuable for their playing and that their playing can only be understood separately from their personhood.<\/p>\n

Musicians can increase their value, both real and perceived, to the organization and audiences by taking the time to articulate their values to themselves and prospective colleagues.<\/p>\n

Make Auditions Air-Tight To Implicit Bias<\/b><\/p>\n

Cognitive bias is inherent to how humans perceive the world. Our brains take shortcuts to process the deluge of stimuli we encounter in every moment. This process evolved over thousands of years, and it affects us all. Think you\u2019re immune? Take a few minutes to learn about the McGurk Effect<\/a>, a perceptual phenomenon that proves what we hear is inescapably influenced by what we see.<\/p>\n

When it comes to auditions, ensure that the process yields an unbiased assessment of a candidate\u2019s performance qualifications as measured against other candidates. We believe the following procedural factors will help orchestras mitigate the effects of cognitive bias.<\/p>\n

Screen every round<\/b><\/p>\n

This concept is becoming more recognized as a best practice. Last year, the delegates and officers to the 2018 International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians (ICSOM) passed a resolution encouraging \u201call orchestras to adopt an audition process that retains screens throughout every individual round of the audition.\u201d Musicians should take this concept even further by screening chamber music and ensemble rounds.<\/p>\n

No discussion of specific candidates during the audition<\/b><\/p>\n

Discussing specific candidates opens the door to implicit bias and organizational politics. Audition committees should feel free to discuss the process in general before hearing candidates. For example, members of the committee who play the same instrument may wish to share insights into why a particular excerpt is included on the audition list. The committee might discuss and collectively affirm their aesthetic philosophies. But once the playing starts, the conversations should stop.<\/p>\n

No trial weeks<\/b><\/p>\n

The rationale for trial weeks is sensible: musicians want to see how a new colleague will fit in with the ensemble. However, this is precisely why trial weeks inhibit inclusion. The focus shifts from \u201cmusical ability\u201d to \u201cfitting in.\u201d Focusing on \u201cfitting in\u201d opens the door to a host of social and cognitive biases.<\/p>\n

A trial week becomes a referendum on how quickly and effectively the candidate adapts to and navigates ensemble norms rather than a measure of how the candidate played relative to other candidates.<\/p>\n

Trial weeks create an out-group of one. This dynamic affects the candidate\u2019s performance and the committee\u2019s assessment. Not only does this magnify biases, it also dilutes focus on the music. It does not serve the music to lend one ear to evaluating a prospective colleague and another ear toward collaboration.<\/p>\n

Moreover, in our experience, trial weeks are often offered in bad faith as a superficially logical way to decline candidates who have otherwise already distinguished themselves.<\/p>\n

No failed searches (i.e. \u201cno-hire\u201d audition results)<\/b><\/p>\n

Commit to offering the job to the candidate who receives the most votes in the audition process. In academia, failed searches occur frequently. Usually, they are the result of organizational politics \u2013 an impasse between members of a search committee. In orchestras, \u201cno-hire\u201d audition results happen for nominally defensible reasons: \u201cNo candidate played well enough\u201d or \u201cno candidate was a good fit.\u201d<\/p>\n

While there can be valid reasons to fail a search, it\u2019s unfair to candidates to move the goal posts or change the criteria for success midstream. Moreover, given that the orchestral employment landscape shifts audition costs onto musicians, it borders on unethical when a search process results in a no-hire.<\/p>\n

Eliminate conflicts of interest on the committee<\/b><\/p>\n

Conflicts of interest are related to failed searches. The following musicians should be ineligible to serve on an audition or tenure review committee:<\/p>\n