Music Director job posting ignites outrage among white musician community

by Chris Peterson, OnStage Blog Founder

A recent job posting seeking a music director for an upcoming college production has caused outrage among the white musician community. The posting encouraged anyone who isn’t a cis-white male to apply for the position, which has caused some to call this “discriminatory.”

For their upcoming Spring production of ‘Bright Star’, Alexander Tom, a theatre admin from Montclair State University, posted the ad, which is shown here.

The language, which has some in the white musician community clutching their pearls, is the phrasing he uses at the end of the post, where he is “steadfastly” looking for someone who isn’t a cis-white male to apply.

The white response to his post has ranged from mildly annoyed to others looking to press charges against Tom for discrimination against white cis-men.

Take Kevin, for instance. He wasn’t happy about Tom’s post.

Yeah….Kevin seems like someone who constantly would like to speak to your manager. The comments under Lynch’s post aren’t much better. I also find it a bit funny that right above this post, where he’s against encouraging non-white cis males to apply for a job and actively trying to get Tom fired, he brags about being nominated for an award for his previous work. That’s next-level flexing.

Now, I don’t see a problem with what Tom asks for in his job post. He’s looking to add diversity to a role that is OVERWHELMINGLY cis-white male in the industry and create a diverse space for a musical that is usually performed with all-white casts.

Should he have used different language to convey his point? From an HR perspective, yes.

But what Kevin and his brotherhood of bothered cis-white males should understand is that 1. Tom isn’t telling them not to apply. 2. There needs to be a concerted effort to create diverse spaces in theatre. 3. They look like racist assholes with their whining about this.

Now, let me add some more context to this. If you didn’t know who Alexander Tom is, you should look him up. Not only is he a fantastic advocate for equity representation in theatre, but also had to repair Pace University’s musical theatre program when it went through its own shit due to a racism controversy.

Tom and his colleagues learned a lot going through that ordeal, and I’m sure some of that was using specific language to let BIPOC and non-binary artists know he is representing a safe space for them. I wonder if Kevin and his “not racist at all” cohorts underwent the same training. If they had, I don’t think they would have gotten this worked up over something like this.

My biggest problem with folks like Kevin and his ‘looking to unleash their white rage” fellows is that they don’t seem to understand the larger issue. They don’t seem to notice that in their rooms; they are usually the majority. They don’t seem to care about the struggle for BIPOC artists to be considered at the same level as white artists. They don’t seem to care that the degrees they hold that qualify them to play such roles often aren’t afforded to aspiring BIPOC artists(more on that later, the racial inequality in MFA programs deserves a separate column). They don’t seem to care that the process isn’t about discriminating against white people but trying to provide more opportunities to marginalized communities. They just don’t care and aren’t willing to be educated on why that’s a problem.

Kevin posted his “outrage” openly and publically; he wanted all the smoke. I have no problem giving it to him. My advice to him is to check his privilege, think about whether this is a battle worth fighting, and out himself in the shoes of those who need to hear encouragement like the type Alexander Tom is promoting.