5 minute read

If you’re like many performing artists over these past 18 months, you can’t wait to start attending performances, concerts, and productions again: making your way into the city, taking in the buildings, floating through the big doors of the performance space, smelling the familiar fragrances. You’re excited to sit down in the cool, dim venue, perusing the program and awaiting the first hints of a show. Performances are multi-sensory experiences which involve observing performers, feeling your presence in the venue, and listening to what unfolds around you. This immersive nature reveals a stark truth to the observant: historically, the majority of Western classical musicians, composers, and conductors that we are asked to study are white men. It has long been time that the demographic of the concert hall more accurately represents the population of the world around us. 

Why is representation important? As Aisha Thomas states in the opening of her presentation for TedxBristol “Why Representation Really Matters,” “I believe representation is important because it provides the opportunity for your existence to be acknowledged in this world.” She acknowledges that we all have many identities, but our outward appearance is usually the most noticeable, and it can impact our daily lives. Aisha Thomas draws on her experience as a teacher and assistant principal to formulate her thesis on representation. Her unique experiences illustrate the importance for young people to see positive representations of themselves in the world around them: “Every day, Black, Asian, or minority children are educated without seeing themselves in the curriculum or their environment. They walk into the classroom, and they hear about the greatness of others, all that they have conquered and all that they have contributed, then they look at their skin, and they say to themselves… ‘Where do I belong? What have my people achieved?’” Thomas advocates for the necessity for young students to see figures they can relate to in their education, ranging from characters in books, topics in history, and the teachers in classrooms. This necessity extends to young students studying western art music. Just as Thomas wants young students to see themselves in their studies, it is crucial for young music students to see themselves in professional performers. 

The impacts of adequate representation. It can be difficult for someone to understand the importance of representation if they have never had to search for an example of someone like them in the classroom or media. To that point, some of us may even take accurate images of ourselves and people like us for granted. Not all of us have this privilege.

If we feel adequately represented in the media we consume, we should make an effort to empathize with the opposite: imagine growing up, and being unable to find someone who looks like you on TV or anywhere in the career path that you want. Instead of countless portrayals of people like you, there is a dearth of images hampered by tired stereotypes. Imagine the self doubt this might generate as opposed to self assurance. Many people have to bolster themselves against this uphill battle. One account from PBS Newshour asked teens to describe how they felt about their representation in the media. When students found characters and people they could identify with, they felt excitement, inspiration, and a sense of belonging. Unfortunately, many students still had narrow choices of characters, or felt that the limited representations of parts of their identity were actually misrepresentations. This negatively affects students’ mental health, self esteem, and leaves questions of uncertainty. 

Representation as Essential to Supporting Young Artists. How our identity is portrayed, and to what extent, affects our worldview. Physically seeing someone with similarities to yourself in your dream role can make your heart sing out with expressions of “yes, I can.”  You may identify with that person, feel empowered, or simply feel more connected. At the very least, you will not perceive the space as hostile to your existence. Though we can be aware and assertive about our own belonging, there is real validation that comes from seeing someone who looks like you in your dream job, or even somewhere you never considered. In music, the need for representation includes the performers, conductors, and composers. 

Young artists deserve to see professionals of a variety of backgrounds, races, ethnicities, sexualities, genders, and other identities. Many of us have heard the common gendered quips about the performing arts, for example, “Oh, you want to play trombone? But that’s a boy instrument.” or “Dancing is for girls. You should play sports instead.” These unchecked assumptions damage us as well as the future of the performing arts. They enforce the idea that there is a “right” type of artist.  We know that instruments and other arts fields have no gender or race, but this mindset is not prevalent everywhere. In my personal experience, seeing that the horn section of the fabulous Philadelphia Orchestra contained multiple incredible women horn players was a catalyzing experience as a young musician. 

We can also acknowledge that our arts classrooms do not always reflect the school population as a whole. One way to help amend this would be to show the student body that anyone can study any kind of art form. This could be achieved through introducing video examples depicting a variety of professionals, incorporating a diverse pool of guest artists, and employing teachers of diverse backgrounds. This way, we can normalize diversity. By encouraging students of any identity to study the music they want, we can also help ensure that the next generation of performers more accurately represents the population of the world we live in. 

Representation affects us all—even those of us who may already feel adequately represented by the media. The performing arts should be for everyone, but unfortunately it is sometimes seen as set apart and carefully guarded. In the same way seeing someone like you can uplift you, seeing a spectrum of people in a variety of roles uplifts all of us. It strengthens us as a whole. We do not want tokenization or shallow attempts at diversity, but authentic, encompassing inclusion. Our goal is to normalize diversity and integrate it throughout the profession, so that everyone can bring their full selves to the space. We must acknowledge our different lived experiences and accept them, so that we may all learn and grow as people. When someone offers their perspective, we should listen deeply, even against our own biases and cognitive dissonance.  There may be some growing pains to make the arts more inclusive, but the effort is well worth it and long overdue.

The importance of representation in the arts cannot be understated. There are many things that affect representation before we get to the performance venue, enough for another article entirely. Though many identities are starting to gain more representation in classical music, we must bolster and continue that upward trend until a spectrum of diversity is the standard. 

Finally, we must remember that representation is one aspect of equity that must be reinforced with other actions: namely, existing arts programs in schools must continue to work to foster an inclusive environment. We must confront the historical prejudices in music history and uplift the many figures that have been overlooked. We must acknowledge our own biases. We must continue to make space at the table and realize the importance of lifting up a variety of voices, because the arts are supposed to be for everyone, as well as represent everyone.

Resources and Further Reading

Why Representation Matters - Jesse Beason

Why Representation Really Matters - Aisha Thomas

Why on screen representation matters, according to these teens - PBS Newshour 

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