[ I am no longer willing to endorse a cultural norm whereby
artists & artist-educators passively participate-in, and benefit-from
institutions born and bolstered through the justification..or practice
of exploiting and destroying Black and Native life]
[[link removed]]

PORTSIDE CULTURE

JAZZ MUSICIAN ESPERANZA SPALDING TO DEPART HARVARD  
[[link removed]]


 

Paton D. Roberts and Eric Yan
November 18, 2022
The Harvard Crimson
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ I am no longer willing to endorse a cultural norm whereby artists &
artist-educators passively participate-in, and benefit-from
institutions born and bolstered through the justification..or practice
of exploiting and destroying Black and Native life _

Esperanza Spalding at the 2022 Newport Jazz Festival, (JazzTimes)

 

Prominent jazz musician Esperanza E. Spalding, a professor of the
practice in Harvard’s Music Department, will depart the University,
she announced in an email to department affiliates this week that was
obtained by The Crimson.

Spalding wrote in the email that she has communicated with Harvard
over “many months” about a proposal for a “decolonial
education” curriculum she would like to implement as a course or
initiative, but said what she aspires “to cultivate and activate in
organized learning spaces is not (yet) aligned with Harvard’s
priorities.”

A five-time Grammy award winner, Spalding joined the Music Department
as a part-time professor of the practice in 2017 and has taught
courses on songwriting, performance, and musical activism. Harvard
typically appoints professors of the practice on five-year renewable
contracts.

In an attachment to her email, Spalding included a description of her
proposal for an educational initiative called “Black
Artist-Educators Decolonizing and Placemaking.” She wrote that she
believes the program would help institutions and instructors “move
beyond metaphorical commitments to decolonial education, Black and
Native solidarity (respectively), and reparations.”

Under the BAEDAP model, the University would “rematriate” some of
its land and properties, offering the spaces to Black and Native
artists, scholars, students, and activists. In the proposal attached
to her email, Spalding described Harvard’s history as
“inextricably linked to Black and Native subjugation,” adding that
in order to maintain her relationship with the University, she would
need to be involved in redressing the school’s “historical and
lingering colonial impacts.”

“I am no longer willing to endorse a cultural norm whereby artists &
artist-educators passively participate-in, and benefit-from
institutions born and bolstered through the justification, and/or
ongoing practice of exploiting and destroying Black and Native
life,” the BAEDAP proposal reads.

Spalding was unavailable to comment on her email or departure.

In an emailed statement, Dean of Arts and Humanities Robin E. Kelsey
praised Spalding’s artistry and wrote that he hopes there are
“possibilities for future collaboration” between Spalding and
Harvard.

“Having Esperanza Spalding at Harvard these past five years has been
fantastic,” he wrote. “My admiration for her work is immense. She
is a beacon in a turbulent world.”

Spalding wrote in her email that she intends to continue work on “an
iteration of BAEDAP” in her hometown of Portland, Oregon.

In a 2021 interview with Oregon Public Broadcasting, Spalding said she
hoped to create a “sanctuary space” for artists of color in
Portland’s St. John’s neighborhood. In May and June 2021, Spalding
raised $361,604 through a GoFundMe campaign to purchase a property for
the space.

Though she plans to leave Harvard, Spalding wrote in her email Tuesday
that she is grateful for her experiences in the Music Department.

“These past 5 years have been so fun, so generative, so challenging,
so full of new sounds and stories, new friends,” she wrote. “I’m
gonna miss y’all!”

_[PATON D. ROBERTS can be reached at [email protected].
Follow her on Twitter at @paton_dr [[link removed]]._

_ERIC YAN can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on
Twitter @ericyan0 [[link removed]].]_

* Music
[[link removed]]
* music education
[[link removed]]
* Esperanza Spalding
[[link removed]]
* reparations
[[link removed]]
* Cultural studies
[[link removed]]
* African Americans
[[link removed]]
* Indigenous peoples
[[link removed]]
* colonialism
[[link removed]]
* decolonialism
[[link removed]]
* Genocide
[[link removed]]
* Jazz
[[link removed]]
* Harvard University
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]

Manage subscription
[[link removed]]

Visit portside.org
[[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 



########################################################################

[link removed]

To unsubscribe from the xxxxxx list, click the following link:
[link removed]