Growing Equitable Music Studios (GEMS) is a course of action for studio music teachers who believe every child can change the world.
Let's expand studio DIVERSITY, ACCESS, and INCLUSION, while nurturing our students as musical changemakers!
Five Facets of GEMS
- CLARIFY STUDIO CULTURE that embodies your dream for social change. Envision an equitable studio environment for yourself, your students, their parents, & studio collaborators to practice living in the world we want now.
- GROW DIVERSITY by partnering with community youth organizations to curate a mixed-income, multicultural classroom.
- EXPAND ACCESS to private lessons. Begin by creating a sustainable grassroots fundraising plan that will annually refresh your financial aid fund for a minimum of one or two students' full tuition.
- ELEVATE INCLUSION by working interdependently with students, parents, and local artists. Draw inspiration from the social justice organizing principals of emergence, outlined in the book Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by adrienne maree brown.
- EMPLOY EQUITY PEDAGOGY that intentionally nurtures students' essential skills for changemaking such as resilience, innovation, collaboration, & higher order thinking.
Listen to a radio show about GEMS.
Course Format
A curated cohort of five music teachers from around the world will join Clara Hardie for each 6-week Course of Action. We'll gather for 2-hour meetings on Zoom twice weekly for two months. Our GEMS work will total 24 hours!
Engagement in the Course of Action is twofold, with an optional third:
Each GEMS lesson is driven by a CAR: Concept, Action, and Results.
Participants will be celebrated on the last Friday of our time together. The GEMS Graduation & Think Tank was designed to generate “practical solutions for individual music teachers to nurture their studios with diversity, equity, and inclusion ASAP”. We'll take turns presenting to each other and our broader community as a way to “recenter social justice from the margins to the heart of music education”.
Upon course completion, a 1-hour GEMS follow up with Clara will be gifted to each graduate. After flocking together for two months, and as our studios continuously evolve, we'll continue our collective course, to grow equitable music studios.
Engagement in the Course of Action is twofold, with an optional third:
- Participation in six weeks of live group coaching sessions on Zoom, Mondays + Fridays 1-3p.
- On your own, outside of virtual class, guided by weekly homework assignments provided on Mondays. Do as much or as little as you want around each GEMS facet; you'll receive feedback from your peers and Clara on Fridays. The Course of Action homework assignments are invitations to get started on, or to intentionally continue evolving, your practices related to each of the 5 GEMS facets, within a temporary community of your peers.
- The option to continue developing your ideas using the GEMS tools & templates that will be yours after course completion.
Each GEMS lesson is driven by a CAR: Concept, Action, and Results.
- On Mondays, GEMS participants will be presented with an overarching concept and be invited to take specific actions. Case studies and templates from Detroit Youth Volume will be provided as inspirational tools.
- Friday classes will consist of individual check-ins, personalized coaching, and peer mentorship around each studio’s plans and progress.
Participants will be celebrated on the last Friday of our time together. The GEMS Graduation & Think Tank was designed to generate “practical solutions for individual music teachers to nurture their studios with diversity, equity, and inclusion ASAP”. We'll take turns presenting to each other and our broader community as a way to “recenter social justice from the margins to the heart of music education”.
Upon course completion, a 1-hour GEMS follow up with Clara will be gifted to each graduate. After flocking together for two months, and as our studios continuously evolve, we'll continue our collective course, to grow equitable music studios.
Think Tank
Fans and friends are invited to join each cohort to celebrate during our last Friday together for a Think Tank & Graduation Ceremony <3 Each GEMS Graduation Ceremony couples as an open-to-the-public Think Tank. We are collaboratively generating practical solutions for individual music teachers to nurture their studios with diversity, equity, and inclusion ASAP.
Originally known as the Suzuki Social Justice Think Tank, founded by Clara Hardie & Bruce Walker, the Youth Volume Think Tank was established with our first two Zoom events in August 2020, soon after the police murder of George Floyd. A Zoom link to join each Think Tank & Graduation Ceremony will be sent to everyone on the GEMS email list.
Originally known as the Suzuki Social Justice Think Tank, founded by Clara Hardie & Bruce Walker, the Youth Volume Think Tank was established with our first two Zoom events in August 2020, soon after the police murder of George Floyd. A Zoom link to join each Think Tank & Graduation Ceremony will be sent to everyone on the GEMS email list.
Enrollment
To begin enrollment, email [email protected] to set up a chat to see if you'd be a good fit for a future GEMS cohort!
This Course of Action will generally be offered once per year. If you'd like to set up a private cohort, stacked with you & your coworkers, please get in touch.
Suzuki Association of the Americas members who sign up for the 6-week Course of Action, and who have completed Every Child Can + Unit 1, will receive credit for GEMS as an SAA Enrichment Course.
Tuition is $1,088 for this 24-hour Course of Action, offered over two month time with 2-hour meetings Zoom meetings twice a week. Payment plans are welcome, and sliding-scale rates may apply if our Equitable Tuition Fund has been bolstered with a grant.
This Course of Action will generally be offered once per year. If you'd like to set up a private cohort, stacked with you & your coworkers, please get in touch.
Suzuki Association of the Americas members who sign up for the 6-week Course of Action, and who have completed Every Child Can + Unit 1, will receive credit for GEMS as an SAA Enrichment Course.
Tuition is $1,088 for this 24-hour Course of Action, offered over two month time with 2-hour meetings Zoom meetings twice a week. Payment plans are welcome, and sliding-scale rates may apply if our Equitable Tuition Fund has been bolstered with a grant.
Want to grow equity in your own organization and/or support the work?
Connect on social media:
- GEMS on Facebook
- @clara.hardie313 on Facebook
- @clarityclark on Instagram
- Youth Volume on Facebook
- Youth Volume on Instagram
Read an article about GEMS.
