Leader Interview: Celina Miranda, Recipient Of The Lewis Prize

The Lewis Prize for Music, which invests in music leaders to facilitate positive change and increase access to music education, announced its latest group of awardees in January of 2021.

We had the opportunity to connect with Celina Miranda, Ph.D., who draws on her extensive experience in youth development and philanthropy, as well as her own lived experience, in her current role as Executive Director of Hyde Square Task Force.

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Leading by Example: Alysia Lee on Creative Collaboration with Students

Last month, I wrote about a conversation I had with Alysia Lee and her work, Say Her Name, which premiered in November 2020. The #SayHerName movement resists police brutality against Black women. If you say the name, you're prompted to learn the story, and if you know the story, then you have a broader sense of all the ways Black bodies are made vulnerable to police violence. In this part, we spoke about her creative collaborations with students.

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Leading by Example: Alysia Lee on "Say Her Name"

Alysia is the Coordinator of Fine Arts for the Maryland State Arts Council, the Founder and Artistic Director of Sister Cities Girlchoir, a faculty member at the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, and a board member for Chorus America. In addition to serving in all of those roles, Alysia is a performer, conductor, composer, and public speaker. Her original composition, Say Her Name, premiered in November 2020, performed by the University of Michigan choir. The piece was written as a vehicle to bring the powerful Kwanzaa ceremony to the concert stage with a call to action.

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WE CAN DO THIS!

Our twentieth and final installment features Idris Goodwin, with our host Courtney J. Boddie from the Teaching Artistry with Courtney J. Boddie Podcast, who expects no recognition. By weaving values of anti-racism within the spaces he occupies, his intentions are solely towards a liberated future that honors his ancestor’s efforts upon deconstructing racism.

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