Sharing power: a commitment

I’ve worked in the music education sector for more than 20 years, and I’ve always advocated for an inclusive, diverse and accessible music education for all children and young people.

However, it has been through the events triggered by George Floyd’s death and the Black Lives Matter movement that I’ve really understood that what I have been doing until now has not been enough. It isn’t enough to be inclusive in my outward-facing practice, if internally I’m not regularly scrutinising my own actions and if I’m not sharing or relinquishing power myself.

It has been the wisdom, influence and friendship of the advisory group and host of the Sound Connections Inclusive Practice in Action two-day virtual sit-in that I led (Brenda Rattray, Nate Holder, Samantha Spence, Imrana Mahmood, John Kelly and Jenetta Hurst) that has helped me to genuinely understand what it actually means to act on inclusion, diversity and anti-racism.

This has involved stepping aside, un-learning my own ideas and working practices, digging deep to find answers to questions I initially struggled with, rethinking budgets, and learning how to create and enable fully inclusive spaces and cultures.

My personal commitment is to share at least 10% of the power (including finances) I receive when I take on a new project or commission with individuals who are under represented in senior roles in the music education sector due to ethnicity, disability or gender.

If I am invited to do a piece of work focussing around equality, diversity and inclusion I will always share at least 50% of this with a colleague who has lived experience of discrimination.

Until individuals like me, who are privileged to be in the strategic, senior positions we are in (albeit freelance), start to consider what sacrifices we can make individually – even if this means stepping aside – the sector will remain non-diverse, and not representative of the children and young people we are ultimately serving.