FIRST
TAKE
More Inclusion, More Opportunity,
MORE MUSIC
By
Andrew King,
Editor-in-Chief
A
post by an industry acquain-
tance – and especially a few of
the replies beneath it – caught
my attention a few weeks ago.
The post read that she, per-
sonally, would no longer be supporting
shows without diversity inclusion (mean-
ing bills without a single female-identified
or visible minority musician in any of the
participating acts). That was it.
Some of the comments it spawned were
… disappointing, to say the least. Unsurpris-
ing if you’ve ever used the internet before,
but disappointing nonetheless.
To be clear, we’re not talking about any-
thing to do with the law, government, or
even private business. This was one person
sharing an autonomous decision on a per-
sonal social media profile about where and
how they choose to spend their money.
What started as someone wanting to
take a small but notable course of action
to set an example and, trivial as it might
seem to some, spur some positive change in
their local scene quickly turned into debates
ranging from an artist fearing losing a po-
tential show for not being “diverse enough”
to accusations of her attitude being “elit-
ist,” “reductionist,” and “racist” to, of course,
someone lobbing the clichéd “snowflake”
insult.
Maybe most concerning in my opinion,
though, was one user who posted the top
10 international singles at the time along
W W W. C A N A D I A N M U S I C I A N . CO M
with the various performers’ (perceived)
ethnicities to make the point that “white
men, technically … are GROSSLY UNDER
REPRESENTED” on the chart, and basically,
that the original post was foolishly looking
to address an issue that doesn’t exist.
Typically, identifying a social issue is
easy – in this case, that opportunities (and
support and encouragement) for certain
groups of people to make and perform
music are, for reasons usually more sys-
temic than individual, often limited. Find-
ing ways to address said issues at various
levels – personal, communal, national, etc.
– is inevitably and vastly more challenging.
I’m of the opinion that equality is not
oppression, and thus working towards
equality in good faith shouldn’t be consid-
ered oppressive.
I do see how someone potentially being
denied a performance opportunity at no
fault of their own, as some would consider
a result of the widespread adoption of the
original post’s intent, could feel they them-
selves had been treated unfairly.
I also see how promoters looking to
maximize their ticket sales would book
acts purely on draw and popularity, and
how based on the demographics of their
market and related factors, that would in-
evitably skew white and male in many cases
here in Canada.
But then it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.
How will we ever shake the status quo and
encourage members of underrepresented
groups to make music and get in front of
people to perform it if they’re not seeing
people who look like or identify with them
under a spotlight?
Opportunity breeds opportunity, and
ensuring people feel welcome and encour-
aged to participate in any given space or
creative pursuit is sure to inject new ideas
and influences into it to the benefit of all
involved. How we go about doing that is
up to us and up for debate. I’d like to think
it’s one we’re all open to having.
Like some of the other commenters from
the original post, I agree that we can and
should aspire to be a society where such
decisions and actions aren’t necessary – that
we are truly all treated equally under the law,
our social structures, and most importantly,
by one another. But in fact, we’re nowhere
close to that.
And so we’re left to try and make a dif-
ference on a micro level – to be the change
we want to see. Sure, we should be open to
questions and maybe even criticism about
such choices in hopes of gaining more
support to move those needles harder
and faster, but the bottom line is we’re not
going to make any progress on fixing – or
maybe entirely rebooting – any flawed sys-
tems without acknowledging them, sharing
ideas, and trying things out.
Regardless of one’s personal attitudes or
political affiliations or general world views,
the idea of engaging in thoughtful debate
about whether certain issues exist and how
we go about addressing them should be
one that’s welcome across the board. In-
creasingly, though, amidst this remarkably
divisive time, what could be opportunities
for discussion and learning and collabora-
tion become opportunities to hurl insults
and burn bridges.
I encourage and support my industry
peer in her decision, even though it’s not
a hard line I’ll draw myself. Those are my
choices. I have, however, found other ways
to try and encourage people to be cogni-
zant of the realities of our industry, what
contributes to those realities, and how our
choices and actions fit into that.
If we truly love music and the industry
that supports it – our industry – we should
welcome the thought of more people tak-
ing part and adding their voices to the mix.
Making sure that happens is on us, and ide-
ally, always up for thoughtful and respectful
discussion, whether that’s on Facebook, at
our various conferences and gatherings, or
out in our respective scenes.
CANADIAN MUSICIAN • 9