A Message of Solidarity and Action from the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra

June 2, 2020

As we mourn the losses of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Manuel Ellis, Breonna Taylor and countless other victims of racial violence and cruelty, Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra stands united with those fighting racism and injustice. We affirm that Black lives matter — they always have and always will. We are outraged by the intolerance, hatred, and violence that People of Color have endured throughout our nation's past and present, and we recognize the inequities rampant in our own industry. We believe that music should uplift and connect everyone. Classical music is a historically Euro-centric genre full of systemic barriers to the participation of non-white people, and we recognize that SMCO is a part of those systems. We believe strongly that orchestras, including SMCO, have a crucial role to play in dismantling institutionalized racism, and we must be accountable to communities that historically have been excluded from this art form.

Since 2015, every one of SMCO’s orchestral performances has featured at least one work by a composer of an under-represented group, particularly women and People of Color. We are now expanding this policy to all performance events, including our Secret Chamber Music series. Exactly half of the guest artists we have engaged since our founding in 2009 are People of Color. We have worked with leaders of Communities of Color to increase access by designing outreach for schools in low-income areas, offering free and low-cost family ticket options, and presenting more events in venues local to predominantly non-white neighborhoods. However, we recognize that we have much more work to do. We are still a long way from becoming an anti-racist organization.

Though we reaffirm our commitment to amplify marginalized voices, we realize that actions speak more loudly than words. In order to educate others, we must first fully educate ourselves, actively listening to the People of Color in our community. As we renew our commitment to listening and research, we must increase our investment in communities of color by creating better accessibility, performing more regularly in their neighborhoods, offering more free ticketing and creating performances with themes that relate to their lives. We must increase the representation of People of Color onstage in performance and offstage in planning, working to ensure that Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color participate and share power equally in our organization. We must inspire other organizations of historically Euro-centric genres to do the same. We can and will become an orchestra that fully serves the entire diverse community of the metropolitan Seattle area, and an organization that more successfully allies with those fighting to eliminate racial injustice and inequity.

To the Black and Brown members of our arts community and beyond:
We see you. We are listening.