Dear Ms Understanding,
I’m the chair of a large community orchestra. We don’t audition and we are a very welcoming family, from all walks of life. Our set list range is huge: Hendrix, Bowie, Björk, Radiohead. We have played in music festivals and have loads of members in loads of bands all over the city, but there’s no denying we are all white. How can we reassure the audiences who come and see us and obviously enjoy what we do, that they would be so welcome among us as musicians. Our age range is from early 30s to 80. I’d say most of our members are 35 to 40, many with young families, so we are not stuffy. We have tried various outreach things with the Somali and Kurdish residents of our city, but I worry that not enough young people have the opportunity to learn music full stop. There are adults out there who were luckier, yet it seems very difficult to invite them to come, even for a taster. It might be perceived as intimidating, I’m sure. I was very nervous when I joined, to be honest, with hurdles of my own to leap, but I know those bear little comparison. Our city is a magnificent multicultural place and if anywhere could do it, it would be us. Any thoughts? Our histories are complex but our love of music is fundamental. It’s an excellent glue in a fracturing world.
