Symphonic musician. The first stage is nailing a blind audition, perfectly.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/16/arts/music/blind-audition...
However, since you can't choose your parents or where you were born, there's little you can do to prepare for the Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity goals. (I could probably get a lift by changing my religion. People with the exact same ethnicity and appearance as me but of a different faith are considered "people of color" by most DEI committees)
I started out wanting a career in music but quickly switched to a math major. While I still perform at amateur recitals, I'm glad I didn't try to prusue a professional career.
> blind auditions are now a thing of the past
but that they should become a thing of the past, so that orchestras can ensure that their makeup (race, gender, etc.) matches that of "the communities they serve".
There's a big difference between "one person writing in the New York Times thinks orchestras should stop doing blind auditions" and "blind auditions are now a thing of the past".
It does give one single example of something, namely an orchestra looking to appoint something like an assistant conductor (that isn't the job title; the article claims it's an equivalent post; I haven't attempted to find out whether they're right) specifically from the non-white non-Asian population. Maybe that's a good thing, maybe it's a bad thing, but it has nothing to do with an alleged end of blind auditions: you literally cannot give an orchestra conductor a blind audition.
(When I say "one single example", I mean it; the article suggests that this sort of thing is becoming common, and for all I know it may be, but it doesn't deign to give any actual evidence other than this one example, along with a link to the same NYTimes article asking for an end to blind auditions.)
Orchestra excerpts are just leetcode for musicians, and just as lacking in testing the real qualities of good workers, artists, and people.
This is communism for social currency. In fact, I'll wager this will develop and become _the_ modern form of communism in the next decade or two (in the US/West), provided the following remains true:
We (continue to) live in an a world of abundant material resources. And, we (continue to) live in a world of limited social resources (and likely always will).
Anyways, my thoughts on the matter as musician/composer. The people that deserve to be in an orchestra are the ones who work the hardest towards achieving goal, and have the talent to fulfill the requirements of that position. It is an incredibly competitive, limited position and would be massively unfair if people were favored/unfavored for admission because of the color of their skin (hmmm...).
I think that would create a lot inter-orchestra tension (which is already sky high because of how competitive it is[0]). Decades of sweat equity will be thrown out the door (most start playing while still a single digit in age). 45% or more of classical musicians end up leaving the career because they cant earn enough money to survive. [1] It's already an impossible discipline to succeed in, regardless of your background.
It is deplorable to shift and count colored beans on an abacus to keep track of an organizations social currency, particularly when that organization has blind admissions. There is not a non-obsessive, wont-be-abused-by-those-who-count way to implement such a gate keeper. Blind auditions solve all these problems, and bring together the most talented people in the world to work together for the benefit of every member of the audience, without the racist undertones.
[0] I used to play with Juilliard musicians. They have plenty of horror stories to tell, such as the time when the NYC Phil woodwinds tallied mistakes made by other musicians during practice. Or when one of the famous string quartets' members refused to stay in the same hotel together.
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/12/arts/music/the-juilliard-...