NPR Article Features Insight from Shea Scruggs (Oboe '04)
Alumnus is among the interviewees for "Where are the Black musicians in the country's largest orchestras?"
Shea Scruggs (Oboe ’04), Curtis’s director of institutional research and musician experience and chief of enrollment, was recently quoted in an NPR article about the lack of Black musicians in major U.S. orchestras, and the issues that are contributing to this ongoing problem. Mr. Scruggs, formerly an oboist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, points out that there is no shortage of qualified Black musicians.
Countering claims that the lack of representation is due to the pipeline, Mr. Scruggs says, “To say we need youth music programs, or it’s happening at the conservatory level; basically, to frame challenges around diversity in a way that absolves orchestras from being part of the problem” is an issue.
Mr. Scruggs—along with eight other musicians, including Weston Sprot (Trombone ’06)—is one of the founders of the Black Orchestral Network, a community and advocacy group that began during the pandemic, in the wake of the George Floyd and Black Lives Matter protests.
Read and listen to the NPR piece HERE.
Learn more about the Black Orchestral Network HERE.