June 2020
Throughout our 35 years of existence, the Leonard Falcone International Euphonium and Tuba Festival has sought to be an inclusive organization, open to low brass performers of any race, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, disability, and nationality. The Board of Directors of the Falcone Festival believes that Black Lives Matter, and we stand with the Black musicians in our tuba/euphonium community. In light of recent events, we intend to make several changes to our Board and to the Festival that reflect our renewed commitment to diversity and inclusivity, and to dismantling the systemic racism that plagues our musical institutions.
1. We will be recruiting individuals from the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) low brass and educational communities to fill additional seats on the Falcone Festival Board of Directors to enhance BIPOC perspectives in the management of our organization.
2. Our repertoire selection committees will increase efforts to include a larger number of musical works by living composers who identify as a member of a marginalized group that is underrepresented in tuba/euphonium music such as women, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ composers. Many tuba/euphonium competitions, teachers, and studios build their music selections from our repertoire lists, and we are committed to using our privilege as a respected international competition to promote the careers of composers from these underrepresented groups.
We condemn the horrific events of racial injustice that have transpired both recently, and in the past, and we acknowledge that we must act to make changes that are long overdue. We are only a tuba/euphonium festival, but with these changes, we hope to be an example to other music organizations as we continue our work with euphonium and tuba players all over the world. #BlackLivesMatter
