Paths Forward

The path forward requires commitment from all sides: institutions must implement structural changes that mandate diverse programming and hiring, while the community must actively foster greater cultural equity by integrating more diverse voices and works into education and public discourse which can ensure visibilty and representation as permanent fixtures of the classical landscape. 

Getting Involved/Take Action

Programming:

• The “5-10%” Repertoire Challenge: This can encourage institutions to commit 5% to 10% of their annual programming budget to works by Filipino composers, both past and living.

• “Filipino Spotlight” Series: This proposes a recurring event or digital series that goes along Western works with a relevant piece by a Filipino composer, highlighitng cultural connections.

• New Commissiong Fund: This will advocate for creating a dedicated back fund specifically for comissiong new works from Filipino and Filipino-diaspora composers

   Supporting Organizations:

• “Adopt an Ensemble” Initiative: This initiative can encourage patrons or corporations to adopt Filipino community-based ensembles.
• Resource Sharing Network: This creates a formal list or databse of organizations that promote Filipino classical music for donors, volunteers, and arists to easily acces
•  Collaborative Events: This can promote joint concerts or masterclasses where a major institution partners with a smaller Filipino-led ensemble to share resources, stages, and audiences.

Integrating Upbringing:

• Curriculum Decolonization: This can challenge music departments to include required units of Philippine music history, theory, and ethnomusicology in standard curricula.

• Vocal Repertoire Requirement: This mandates that all vocal students study and perform at least one art song or aria in Tagalog during their degree program
  

• “Bilingual Musician” Mentorship: This establishes mentorship programs to help students reconcile and integrate their Filipino musical training with Western conservatory standards.

Listening to Filipino Voices

Bianca Balderama is a professional musician who earned her Bachelor’s of Music in Violin Performance, Muisc History, and German Lange and Masters in Violin Performance and Musicology all from the University of Memphis.

Click on her picture to view more of her story! 

Click on his picture to hear what he has to say!

I decided to give an interview to my brother; he works outside the professional music career, however a professional musician outside his line of work. He has recently collaborated with a professional production “Chicago” alongside other degree-earning musicians.

 Click on his picture to view more of what he has to say!

Support Access and Visibility

The last layer of action is dedicated to broad advocacy and visibility which can ensure that the conversation reaches audiences beyond academic and institutional spaces. This involves a consistent commitment to sharing supporting scholarships and other opportunites offered by groups like the FilAm Music Foundaiton or the Filipino American Symphony orchestra — organizations that fuel the education and careers of these emergin artists. A combined effort is also needed in promiting Filipino artists across platforms, actively celebrating their achievements in performance, composition, and scholarship to correct their historical underrepresentation. To build an interconnected community, we must alos share other sources that stand with this mission statement, highlighting organizations like the Asian Cultural Council or the Cultural Center of the Philippines. This message can be most powerfully sent thorugh social media pages which would serve as a central hub for sharing artist spotlights, funding opportunities, and calls for curriculum reform which will transform passive awareness into collective, visible action.