Laurel Forshaw (PhD) has been awarded a PDF Travel Award from the UBC Postdoctoral Fellows Office for her upcoming conference presentation at the PODIUM Choral Conference & Festival in Toronto, ON. This conference is hosted by Choral Canada (https://www.choralcanada.org/index.html), an organization that serves choral conductors throughout Canada and beyond, and the conference theme is “Reimagine, Rebuild, Reconnect” as choirs and choral conductors come together for the first time since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. Laurel will be presenting “Truth before Reconciliation: Engaging in Transformative Change within Choral Practices,” and a brief description of the session follows:
Indigenous musics and musical practices have until recently been excluded from choral practices within Canada and many choral practitioners have struggled to find meaningful ways in which to address these systemic exclusions. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (2015) has called on individuals and organizations to respond to the 94 Calls to Action in meaningful ways, and the ways in which choral practitioners in Canada can respond to these Calls within choral communities can lead to profound change. At risk, however, is an approach of “Indigenous inclusion” (Gaudry & Lorenz, 2018)—for example, including a piece by an Indigenous composer or providing a land acknowledgement—that does not otherwise change or influence existing programming, organizational structures and processes, or member and audience gatekeeping. In this interest session, participants will consider transformational reconciliation strategies grounded in understanding what “truth before reconciliation” means in the context of choral music.
The PODIUM Conference is an important gathering of choral musicians (singers, conductors, choirs, and administrators). Choral music has been particularly impacted by the pandemic, and there have been lengthy periods of time when choral singing has not been allowed because of the risk of Covid transmission. Now, choirs are beginning to perform again, rehearsing and performing while masked (itself, a big challenge). Despite the challenges, the return to in-person singing and music-making is being welcomed with gratitude.