- Program Notes
- In my time as a graduate student, I faced struggles due to lack of funding and having to prove my worth more than others. In both of my graduate institutions I was not given a chance to interview for an assistantship position during my first year for reasons unclear to me. Upon proving my worth with my work in the field, and my work ethic as a composer and educator, I would be given interviews at both institutions, and received funding and assistantships once I was heard. During my time as an Associate Instructor in the Music Theory Department at Indiana University, I took on the role of a Union Representative, advocating for graduate students who are underfunded and disenfranchised for the lack of respect given to their work. In the countless hours of meetings, outreach work, and recruitment, I have had the pleasure of rekindling my relationship with UIC, my alma mater, in conversations with their graduate workers about striking for equitable treatment. Grad Workers Union is a play on the late composer, Louis Andriessen’s open instrumentation work Workers Union. Each section depicts the strength of community I found advocating for fair treatment; the shift from pleasant attempts at conversation with the administration, to full blown striking in solidarity with faculty, graduate students, undergraduate students and the community at large; and the reconciliation from the administration and recognition of our unionizing efforts. Each part is democratic and equally important to the message of the work.
- Performer Credits
- Lawrence University New Music Ensemble under the direction of Michael Clayville
- Publisher
- Rutledge Press (ASCAP)
