How Embracing DEI Is Causing Classical Music To DIEIn Philadelphia, one of the country’s most progressive arts companies is on the brink of collapse — a decline accelerated by an allegiance to ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion.’BY: JONATHAN S. TOBIN
AUGUST 30, 2023
The decline of interest in classical music has been a constant theme of discussion in the arts world for decades. The death of music education in schools and the chasm that now separates symphonies and operas from popular music was widely understood to have drastically narrowed the size of potential audiences. But in recent years, some bright minds thought they had found an answer. By dedicating classic arts companies to woke programming and ideology, they thought they had a path to relevance that would bring them larger and younger audiences as well as the funding they needed to continue operating.
But they were wrong. And the proof of their folly has just been delivered in the failure of Opera Philadelphia, the company that has been most invested in the concept that going woke would save classical music.
For a dozen years, Opera Philadelphia’s David Devan was the toast of the American classical music world. He took over as general director of Opera Philadelphia in 2011 and put the struggling company on the map. He was praised by leading music critics in publications such as The New York Times and The Washington Post for his emphasis on innovation and new operas, with his efforts compared favorably to those of far larger and more established arts institutions.
He led the way among arts companies in the embrace of wokeness on stage and off with an emphasis on operas that appealed to gay people and with outreach to minorities. During coronavirus lockdowns, he was lauded for taking the company online with programming that reflected his belief in nontraditional forms of performance.
No other arts organization was quicker to embrace the Black Lives Matter movement and then to pledge allegiance to the woke catechism of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). It spent scarce donor funds on hiring an equity commissar (a practice that quickly became standard in the arts) to police the enforcement of equity and thereby placed racial and identity politics over excellence in casting and hiring as well as over choices of repertory.
Failure to Create New AudiencesBut anyone who thought this would solve the problems of an institution that aspired to be considered a top-tier arts company instead of a middling minor-league operation was wrong. Far from fueling a surge in interest, ticket sales, or funding from donors, the emphasis on wokery has done nothing to create new audiences.
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Source:
https://thefederalist.com/2023/08/30/how-embracing-dei-is-causing-classical-music-to-die/
