Early Music Access Project believes that Black Lives Matter and we humbly acknowledge our responsibility to take action where we can. To that end, we commit to honoring and shining a light on the work of Black artists. Expanding the Narrative, our ongoing project to tell the story of early Black American music, particularly at Monticello, brings together Black performers, composers, and scholars to tell the forgotten stories of extraordinary enslaved and free Black musicians who made an enormous impact on American culture. We are actively looking for ways to better engage our community as we tell these stories, which must include an unvarnished look at the horrors of slavery and the unfathomable challenges faced by Virginia’s Black musicians during this time. We recognize that this one project must only be the beginning of our work, a small part of our country’s long journey towards full equity and representation.
The 2022-2023 season is sponsored in part by grants from The Rea Charitable Trust, the Bama Works Fund of Dave Matthews Band at the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation, the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts