Sampling of 2019-20 Chicago Musical Pathway Initiative Fellows
(photo credit: Chris Hurd Photography, LLC).
Sergio A. Mims forwards this release from Louise Yingduo Liu:
CHICAGO MUSICAL PATHWAYS INITIATIVE
MENTORSHIP PROGRAM FOR MUSIC STUDENTS FROM UNDERREPRESENTED COMMUNITIES INVITES APPLICANTS FOR 2020-21 COHORT
ADDRESSING
LACK OF MINORITY REPRESENTATION IN PROFESSIONAL AMERICAN ORCHESTRAS,
INAUGURAL 2019-20 CMPI COHORT PROUDLY SENDS ITS SEVEN GRADUATING SENIORS
TO TOP TIER NATIONAL MUSIC SCHOOLS
CHICAGO (June 8, 2020)—Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative
(CMPI), a mentorship program launched last
Fall for talented student musicians from traditionally underrepresented
backgrounds, invites dedicated music students to audition
for its second cohort of ‘Fellows’ starting in the 2020-21 academic year.
CMPI offers its Fellows a comprehensive training curriculum that
includes weekly private lessons, monthly mentorship from professional
musicians,
panel feedback, masterclasses, family seminars and workshops,
complimentary concert tickets, financial support, and more.
Online applications for the 2020-21 cohort are due July 3,
followed by virtual information sessions, pre-screening audition video
submissions and final audition video submissions throughout July. For
application guidelines
and to sign up, visit www.chicagopathways.org/audition.
Acknowledging that African American and Latinx musicians hold less than
3% of the positions in major American orchestras (League of American
Orchestras), the mission of CMPI is to identify and develop gifted and
motivated orchestral students from underrepresented
backgrounds for acceptance into top-tier conservatory, college or
university classical music programs in preparation for careers as
professional musicians. The inaugural class of CMPI Fellows, which just
completed its first year of study, ranges from 6th grade
through 12th grade and reflects the diversity of the city of
Chicago (44% African American, 40% Latinx, 10% Southeast Asian, 6%
South Asian). All seven high school senior Fellows in the program have
earned spots in highly competitive professional
music schools including Curtis Institute of Music (Philadelphia),
DePaul University (Chicago), Northern Illinois University (DeKalb, 2
fellows admitted), Peabody Institute of John Hopkins University
(Baltimore), Rice University (Houston) and University of
Texas (Austin); notably, the students’ musical and academic
achievements earned them a total of some $3.8 million in financial aid
scholarships.
“With the generous support of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, we assure
young musicians that their dreams are within reach. We help them create
a supportive community with other students and mentors. We teach them
to network with professional musicians of
color that have preceded them on this path,” said Adrienne Thompson,
Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative Director. “As our seniors begin the
next phase of their training, we look forward to seeing how they will
change the demographic makeup of classical
music and have a positive impact on the world.”
The Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative (CMPI) is a multi-organization collaborative effort established in 2018 with an extraordinary $3.5 million grant from
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Its long-term goal is to help address the persistent lack of diversity
in American orchestras – a condition that threatens the vitality and
viability of classical, orchestral music. CMPI is aimed at building a
more robust Chicago-area training pathway for talented
student musicians from traditionally under-represented backgrounds,
from 6th grade through 12th grade. The project
focuses on instrumental students of classical music who have
demonstrated both aptitude and interest in pursuing intensive
study and a career specifically as a professional performing musician.
The initiative involves close collaboration and resource sharing among a
diverse network of well-established non-profit Chicago youth and
music-education focused organizations. Together, participating
organizations are working to identify talented, motivated
students early in their training. Students selected for CMPI will be
carefully assessed and provided with comprehensive supports – musical
and extra-musical (e.g., financial, instructional, academic, etc.) to
remove many of the barriers to access that can
discourage or derail the training of talented students from
under-represented backgrounds before they are able to realize their full
musical potential.
Participating organizations include Merit School of Music, Chicago Youth
Symphony Orchestras, Chicago High School for the Arts, Chicago
Sinfonietta, Negaunee Music Institute at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra,
DePaul University School of Music and Ravinia Festival.
Founded in 1969, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation endeavors to
strengthen, promote, and, where necessary, defend the contributions of
the humanities and the arts to human flourishing and to the well-being
of diverse and democratic societies by supporting
exemplary institutions of higher education and culture as they renew
and provide access to an invaluable heritage of ambitious, path-breaking
work.
Learn more about CMPI at www.chicagopathways.org.
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