Despite the pandemic, our executive director Lecolion Washington has been speaking on panels and joining in discussions with other musicians and educators.
On July 1, he joined Roxie Myhrum, Artistic Director at Puppet Showplace Theater and Craig Cogan, Artistic Director of Boston Gay Men’s Chorus for a Sip & Chat hosted by the Arts Administration Association New England. This informational chat focused on their initiatives and how are they responding to this unprecedented crisis.
On July 2, he was part of a panel held by the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition and Symposium called The Imperative of Community Engagement for Musicians. The discussion included Staci A. Spring, Kika Wright, Midori Samson, Nanci Belmont and Lecolion Washington as they discussed ideas and resources for creating community engagement. A recording of this panel will be posted soon. Here are a list of resources that came out of the conversation:
- “Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom” – bell hooks
- “Building Communities, Not Audiences: The Future of the Arts in the United States” – Doug Borwick
- “Engage Now!: A Guide to Making the Arts Indispensable” – Doug Borwick
- “The Music Teaching Artist’s Bible: Becoming a Virtuoso Educator” – Eric Booth
- “Experience and Education” – John Dewey
- “Art as Experience” – John Dewey
- “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” – Paulo Freire
- https://challengethestats.org/
On July 6, he was the moderator of a meet-up session for BIPOC flutists hosted by the National Flute Association. The purpose of this session was to provide marginalized groups a safe space to gather and share their experiences of the absence of their perspectives and their lack of representation in leadership, performance, repertoire, etc. The National Flute Association is holding a summer session of information and workshops.
