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Has your
<br />organization
<br />undergone any
<br />Diversity, Equity, and
<br />Inclusion (DEI)
<br />training? If so,
<br />please explain. If not,
<br />please explain any
<br />barriers that have
<br />prevented you from
<br />receiving this
<br />training.
<br />Yes; eight W VC members attended the OCAC DEI Training program. W e
<br />also have a DEIA Committee that advises the Board, and about every 5
<br />years we conduct strategic planning which addresses DEI.
<br />The issue of diversity, equity and inclusion is not new to W VC. The chorus
<br />was founded expressly to lift up voices of those who have long gone
<br />unheard. W e sing all kinds of music – classical, religious, secular, popular,
<br />ancient, and brand-new – but in all, we seek out works by women, who
<br />make up only 5-7% of composers of classical works performed (many
<br />sources, including Donne-uk.org. "Equality and Diversity in Global
<br />Repertoire" (2022), a disparity resulting from historic de jure and
<br />contemporary de facto discrimination. Addressing the gender-disparity in
<br />music is imperative to us: many W VC concerts contain only women
<br />composers; many are only living women composers.
<br />W VC also recognizes other gaps in the repertoire, performing works by a
<br />range of Black, Indigenous, trans, and other minoritized composers and
<br />lyricists. W e hold joint concerts with local groups made up of people of
<br />diverse racial, ethnic, and language identities, and our membership is
<br />diverse in age (high school to 80s), sexual orientation, religion, socio-
<br />economic position, neuro-diversity, and physical ability. However, like most
<br />adult community choirs in Orange County, our membership is primarily
<br />W hite. Through strategic planning in 2019-20, we formed a DEIA
<br />Committee, separate from the Board of Directors, to examine this and
<br />advise the Board regarding Chorus activities and operations, with the aim
<br />to create an environment where all singers, including singers who do not
<br />identify as W hite, feel truly welcome. The Committee has built a resource
<br />library and is working on developing tactics and metrics for increasing
<br />ethnic and cultural diversity in the chorus. Informed by the OCAC training
<br />led by Aisha Adams, we have hired an expert on microaggressions in the
<br />chorus context to meet with the committee this summer, and plan a DEI
<br />session (with pre- and post-survey evaluation) for the full chorus at our fall
<br />retreat. In 2023-24, the Committee will advise on issues related to true
<br />inclusion, expand our mailing list to reach a more diverse audience,
<br />outreach to Orange County in spaces outside of typical concert venues,
<br />and develop specific goals for diversifying W VC audience, membership,
<br />and leadership. One goal already established is to hire underrepresented
<br />guest artist musicians (detailed below). Meanwhile, we continue our record
<br />of performing work by diverse artists. Plans for 2024-25 include a new
<br />commission by a woman or non-white composer, and a concert focused on
<br />works that depict women’s courage and compassion in the face of
<br />adversity, “from Joan of Arc to Malala.” This concert will reprise a work
<br />commissioned in 2019, “Gaaggee Zaag’aa” (“Only Time to Love,”) sung in
<br />Odawa, a dialect of the Anishinaabek Native Canadian/American people.
<br />Lyricist Chantal Sellers’ grandmother survived a residential school, where
<br />many Native students were robbed of their language and much of their
<br />culture. The piece depicts a woman overcoming anger and fear with loving
<br />connection with her foremothers.
<br />DocuSign Envelope ID: 56ECA0F1-08AA-4A90-B1A0-B9B7C934B889
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