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The United States Navy Band in partnership with The Sphinx Organization, a national organization dedicated to advancing professional opportunities for young Black and Latinx musicians, hosted an audition workshop at George Washington University June 3 and 4.
Known as an audition intensive, the two-day event followed the National Alliance for Audition Support model which provides free individual lessons, group masterclasses and a mock audition for 20 college-aged students selected from a national pool of candidates. Navy Band instrumentalists partnered with their student counterparts to offer performance feedback and share relevant knowledge as seasoned professional musicians and subject matter experts.
Spearheading the initiative was Musician 1st Class Michael Brown from New Orleans, La., a member of the Navy Band’s diversity, equity and inclusion team.
"This is an opportunity to help mitigate the disparities we see in classical music organizations today” said Brown. “It is the first time any military band has hosted an audition intensive, and I see it as a huge honor and opportunity for us to interact directly with the diverse and motivated potential candidates we hope to recruit for our own auditions one day."
In tandem with the audition intensive, the Navy Band will host its first Summit for Diversity in Music Nov. 19, 2023, in partnership with Morgan State University. The event will bring together leaders and performers from across the arts community as the band seeks to attract the finest talent, and ultimately, better represent Americans of all backgrounds and ethnicities in its ranks, leading the way in advancing the DEI vision of the Navy’s chief of naval operations, Adm. Mike Gilday.
"In order to more effectively recruit, develop, manage, reward and retain the forces of tomorrow, aiming to simply avoid doing the wrong thing is too low a bar; we must actively pursue that which is right. When Sailors feel included, respected and empowered, they will be more ready to win wars, deter aggression and maintain freedom of the seas" said Admiral Mike Gilday, Chief of Naval Operations.
To learn more about the Navy Band, visit: www.navyband.navy.mil
To learn more about The Sphinx Organization, visit: sphinxmusic.org
To learn more about the National Alliance for Audition Support, visit: National Alliance for Audition Support — Sphinx Organization (sphinxmusic.org)
| Date Taken: | 06.09.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 06.09.2023 15:02 |
| Story ID: | 446637 |
| Location: | WASHINGTON D.C., DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, US |
| Hometown: | NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA, US |
| Web Views: | 42 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Navy Band partners with National Alliance for Audition Support, by PO1 April Enos, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
