In response the social distancing created by the Covid pandemic in 2021, School of Music students, faculty and staff began an initiative to go beyond the concert hall to create purpose driven concerts and events in the community and utilizing music as the bridge. As a society, we are continuing to experience isolation and disconnected living through a global pandemic in addition to immense suffering felt from the inequality and inequity of liberty that must be available to all Americans.
The UofSC School of Music has come together as one entity – students, faculty and staff – to use music as a vehicle for uniting our communities, amplifying voices, celebrating heroes and spurring our future.
Four bridges were identified as distances that needed to be reevaluated and rebuilt both internally within our field and externally as we engage with society at large.
As a response to the challenges we face together during times of a public health and social justice crisis, we commit to actively sharing music with a wider cross-section of society, transcending the traditional concert hall, aiming to repair, strengthen and unite the communities in which we live.
We commit to programming music that amplifies underrepresented voices. Our intention is to promote equity in our field while championing the diversity of global and American musics as well as the distinct sounds from our home in Carolina.
We commit to celebrating the unsung heroes who selflessly place themselves on the frontlines of the pandemic, and recognize and honor the vital workers in our society who are often overlooked and left feeling unappreciated.
We commit to spurring forward into the future by activating an array of possibilities rather than relying on past assumptions. What new territories can we explore that will empower us and our students to unite, amplify and celebrate through music?