The 5 Disciplines of Inclusive Leaders by Andrés Tapia

Author:Andrés Tapia
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers

GO THROUGH THE KIDS

For more than fifty years, Ravinia has provided extensive music education to kids in Chicago public schools forty miles away. Its Reach Teach Play program touches around seventy-five thousand kids annually, primarily from traditionally underserved communities. Based on the innovative music education program Sistema, which originated in Venezuela, the program revolves around nucleos (nexuses or meeting groups). Each child experiences being an asset within her or his nucleo, meeting several times a week. Then each nucleo joins other nucleos for a weekly multi-nucleo class. Recitals throughout the year showcase the students’ progress. Along the way, there are myriad field trips to Ravinia classical music concerts for these Chicago students and their parents.

But before 2016, Ravinia had not reached out to the underserved communities in its own backyard, largely due to the belief that Lake County, where Ravinia is located, was wealthy and not in need of youth music education. In reality, there is a large low-income and even homeless population in the area.

Within Ravinia’s vital twenty-five-mile radius, where the bulk of its classical music audiences reside, there are hundreds of thousands of Latinos, many of whom, though not all, are working class. Their exposure to classical music is limited, and most do not know about Ravinia. If they do, it has not traditionally felt like a place where they would be welcomed. Ravinia’s manicured lawns, fenced perimeter, and high hedges, and the lack of diversity of its audiences on classical nights, no doubt contributed to this feeling.

Then, in 2016, breakthrough.

Sistema Ravinia was inaugurated for Lake County that year, but this time, due to proximity, the after-school, four-times-a-week, two-hours-a-day coming together was able to happen at Ravinia itself. It turned out to be a game changer. In its first year, the program involved an impressive five schools, two hundred children, and twenty teachers and principals.

For the kickoff, there was a half day of activities on the Ravinia grounds, including a tour and a concert and Q&A with fourteen-year-old Mexican American piano prodigy Daniela Liebman Martínez. When the kids heard her speak in her native Spanish, the demeanor in the auditorium changed. Here was someone like them who was a virtuosa.

THE SALSA DANCING THAT MADE IT HOME

As we wrap this up, I (Andrés) have a confession to make as a Ravinia trustee. As a Latinx tail-end Boomer, I am a member of those newly targeted audiences who, for most of my life, has not been a classical music fan. While I superficially enjoyed having it as background music, I did not understand the music. I found myself fidgeting in my seat during long, slow movements, and I chafed judgmentally at not being able to burst into exuberant cheering after an explosive final note that, inconveniently, was placed between movements.

But today I consider myself a new fan, slowly deepening my knowledge about the art form, its history, its evolution, and the long-standing and up-and-coming virtuosos. I now listen to recorded classical music and attend live concerts more than I ever have in my life.

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