EP703: Chorus America: Dr. Antonio Cuyler - The Great Imagining: Envisioning and Manifesting an Antiracist Choral Field

In Unison

For the next several episodes, we’re partnering with Chorus America to bring you a sneak preview of what’s coming up at the Chorus America Annual Conference, being held this year in our home town, San Francisco! We hope you’ll enjoy this opportunity to get to know a bit more about the conference’s speakers and their areas of expertise, and especially to get to know these folks on a personal level.

Building on a shared understanding that songs are stories and choruses and singers are storytellers, today’s episode with Dr. Antonio C. Cuyler will give us a sneak peek at his Chorus America conference session where we explore the question: How can we envision and manifest antiracism in every aspect of our field, from repertoire to the way choral organizations are structured?

We hope to see you in San Francisco for the Chorus America Conference, May 31 - June 2, 2023. More information is available at chorusamerica.org.

Music excerpts

• “Chains,” written by Gary Hines, performed by Sounds of Blackness
• “Optimistic,” written by Gary Hines, performed by Sounds of Blackness
• “Total Praise,” written by Richard Smallwood, performed by Richard Smallwood and Vision

Episode references

• Chorus America conference
• Dr. Antonio C. Cuyler
• Access, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Cultural Organizations
• Arts Management, Cultural Policy, & the African Diaspora
• Alysia Lee, Baltimore Children & Youth Fund
• “Hold Fast to Dreams,” by Joel Thompson, performed by the Atlanta Master Chorale, Dr. Eric Nelson, conductor; Joel Thompson, accompanist (YouTube)

Theme Song: Mr. Puffy by Avi Bortnik, arr. by Paul Kim. Performed by Dynamic