Monday, June 8, 2020

Sergio Mims: Chicago youth music mentorship program addresses lack of minorities in American orchestras



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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VIDEO of current CMPI Fellows sharing first-person perspectives on the program’s impact and PHOTOS.

 

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