I want to see leadership from endowed institutions, the ones with the power to push back. But I also want our field to recognize that the artists who have always been excluded from that security must be part of the conversation.

For me, contemporary music has never been just about aesthetics. It is about staying engaged, translating, and connecting people. And right now, that connection is more urgent than ever.

Mutual aid and resilience are not abstract ideals. They are survival strategies. If institutions want to navigate this crisis, they should learn from the artists who have never had endowments, named chairs, or tenure to fall back on. That kind of security disappears fast when the rules change.

I don’t have the answer when so much of our field relies on institutions and donors who may not share these beliefs. But this crisis exposes deeper truths—about who gets to feel secure in this industry and who has always known that security is an illusion.

At what point do contemporary and classical musicians stop fighting over aesthetics and recognize that the real fight is for the survival of the arts?

First, they came for the artists they labeled “too diverse.” Then, they came for the ones they called “too political.” Eventually, they will come for everyone who makes art at all.

Authoritarianism doesn’t stop at aesthetic boundaries. Institutions that comply out of self-preservation won’t be spared. The opportunists and grifters trying to appeal to “anti-woke” commissions will lose their legitimacy first—and then everything else.

Shostakovich was labeled a “formalist” because the term meant whatever authorities needed it to mean. Even artists who followed the rules were targeted as soon as definitions shifted. And they will shift. This isn’t just about contemporary works or diverse artists.

Anyone who has seen the keyword lists and funding restrictions knows this isn’t about one aesthetic or ideology. It’s a tool to silence anything that challenges them.

That’s why believing the “Masterworks Series” is safe is an illusion.