New Harmony: Equity, Access, Belonging

View the A New Harmony Workbook – PDF. To request a printable workbook, contact info [at] GalaChoruses.org (GALA Choruses).

GALA choruses have a unique opportunity to explore issues of equity, access and belonging because our choruses offer more than just a place to sing: they are also communities of belonging.

GALA Choruses has designed a new workbook to help explore these conversations. Early drafts focused on a model called DEI: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. But the more GALA’s Open Table Committee explored the vision of A New Harmony we realized we could create a new way to frame this conversation without using the word “diversity”, which is overused today, or “inclusion” which innately infers that some people are in and others are out.

It is the belief of GALA Choruses that these topics are valuable for every member chorus. We hope that these conversations will inspire and launch your chorus on a journey toward equity, access and belonging.

The following tabs contain additional resources for further conversation.

Mobility and Ability

25 Simple Ways We Can All Be More Disability-Inclusive , by Vu Le

Ask First: Including Disability in the Diversity Conversation , by Sheela Nimishakavi

How to Make Your Social Justice Events Accessible to the Disability Community: A Checklist

Race and Ethnic Identity

10 Examples That Prove White Privilege Protects White People in Every Aspect Imaginable , by Jon Greenberg

Asian Queer Choirs: A Perspective , by Hsien Chew

Deconstructing White Privilege , by Dr. Robin DiAngelo.

Explaining White Privilege to a Broke White Person , by Gina Crosley-Corcoran

So You Want to Talk About Race? Book by Ijeoma Oluo.

What does Justice Look Like: The Struggle for Liberation in Dakota Homeland. Book by Waziyatawin.

When They Call You a Terrorist , book by Patrisse Cullors

When They Call You a Terrorist – Discussion Guide - PDF

Gender Identity

Explore GALA video shorts, workshops and resources for transgender singers and voice teachers/conductors working with trans and non-binary singers.

Explore GALA’s list of Gender Inclusive Choral Repertoire .

Resources from the 2018 Transgender Voices Festival

Both Sides Now , by Reid Vanderburgh

Creating Choirs That Welcome Trans Singers , by Jane Ramseyer Miller

Raven’s True Self , by Sam Bullington

Transgender Voices: Trans Inclusivity in GALA Choruses , by Reid Vanderburgh