Equity Arc

The national pathways festival and convening: the Equity Arc national pathways festival and convening brought 57 precollege fellows and two alumni from 17 pathways programs across the country to nashville for a multiday musical experience that included sectionals led by principal musicians of the nashville symphony, rehearsals led by maestro giancarlo guerrero, and a culminating side-by-side performance of henry t. burleigh's the young warrior, adolphus hailstork's an american port of call, and shostakovich's 5th symphony side by side with musicians from the nashville symphony. In addition to these invaluable learning opportunities, fellows participated in panel discussions, shared their perspectives with the field, interacted with representatives from leading collegiate and summer study institutions through our formal fair, and spent an afternoon at vanderbilt university. Equity Arc pays application fees for all musicians nominated to audition for the pathways orchestra to help eliminate a barrier to participation. Equity Arc also engaged paid student interns to help plan and capture the story of our time in nashville. 100 administrators and supporters joined the concurrent summit sessions, taking part in strategic conversations furthering collaborative action to build Equity in the field. Features of the summit included five panel discussions, working groups, and important networking with colleagues across the country. This annual experience will continue to strengthen our coalition.

National collective for musical pathways: in fall of 2022, Equity Arc launched the national collective for musical pathways, an alliance of rigorous precollege music training programs committed to removing barriers and accelerating the progress of bipoc (black, indigenous, and people of color) musicians. Since 2022, the collective has grown from 12 to 20 programs and Equity Arc has invested in strengthening pathways work and creating new opportunities for pathways' musicians. We have raised pilot funds for an instrument fund that will support pathways' musicians pursuing performance in their collegiate study. This season, Equity Arc conducted an alumni survey in partnership with aim and arrow to inform the alumni network we seek to establish. We have also devoted resources to building best practices for pathways' work that can inform other pre-college programs that do not have the dedicated human and financial resources of pathways' program. The increased visibility of the collective has given newly established and pre-existing pathways' programs a place to find guidance and has attracted major funding opportunities. Equity Arc provides consulting services to members of the collective for purposes including event design and developing strategic goals. Equity Arc staff provide consultation, and external consultants are engaged as needed.

Member services: common application for summer study: the common application for summer study is a free resource for musicians of color to apply to multiple summer music festivals with one application and one audition. In fy24, Equity Arc worked with 18 partners operating 24 programs to refine and present the common application '24, ultimately serving 175 individual applicants who received robust financial support to attend their summer program of choice. We refined the virtual summer study fair and shared excerpt list, improving the experience for applicants and partners alike. We also expanded our partner list to include four new partners, expanding the breadth of summer study opportunities for musicians nationwide. Equity Arc paid the application fees for all eligible applicants, and each partner renewed their commitment to providing at least one full tuition scholarship to an Equity Arc fellow.