WKAR debuts ‘Music for Social Justice’ television series

Artists relate the tunes they enjoy to societal issues and their have experiences.

EAST LANSING, MI May 2, 2022 –WKAR General public Media and the School of New music at Michigan Point out University announce these days the upcoming broadcast premiere of Audio for Social Justice, a new tv collection discovering societal troubles through audio and the personalized stories of the artists powering the new music. The collection debuts Sunday, May well 8, on WKAR-Television set 23, the PBS station serving Michigan’s funds area.

Episodes will air on WKAR High definition 23.1 on Sundays at 4 p.m. with repeats on Thursdays at 1:30 p.m. commencing May perhaps 8 and continuing by June 23, 2022. Just about every episode will be obtainable streaming in the free PBS Online video application and at online video.wkar.org starting on its broadcast premiere day.

Songs for Social Justice attributes artists as they relate the music they perform to societal problems and their personal lived encounters. Challenges explored range from racism, policing, and internment camps, to the murders of trans women of all ages. Potent and emotive, the collection normally takes an expansive look at of what social justice signifies.

The host for the collection is global recording artist Damien Sneed. Sneed is a pianist, organist, composer, conductor, arranger, producer, and arts educator whose operate spans various genres.

Artists highlighted in the sequence include violinist Yvonne Lam, composer and bassist Jordyn Davis, mezzo-soprano Jane Bunnell, mezzo-soprano GeDeane Graham, pianist Derek Kealii Polischuk, jazz bassist and composer Rodney Whitaker, baritone Mark Rucker and pianist Sadie Rucker, jazz drummer Randy Gelispie with vocalist Brandon Rose, composer and intermedia artist Lyn Goeringer, baritone Jadrian Tarver, saxophonist Joe Lulloff, bass-baritone Marc Embree, and Damien Sneed. Accompanists involve pianists Elden Small, Yu-Lien The, and Ya-Ju Chuang as nicely as jazz musicians Sam Corey and Austin Muthyala.

The tv collection grew out of a distinctive digital video clip sequence developed by the Higher education of Songs in 2020. Amidst the social movement that followed the murder of George Floyd in Could of that 12 months, faculty school felt the have to have to talk out on troubles of inequality. They selected to do so through audio.

“There was an genuine, psychological reaction to what was heading on in the state,” explained Rodney Whitaker, jazz bassist and composer, and director of variety, fairness, inclusion, and belonging at the university. “The artists acquired with each other and actually wished to tell these tales.”

The resulting Music for Social Justice electronic sequence introduced on line in September of 2020, showcasing artists in limited performances and interviews.

“When our colleagues in the College of Tunes shared the series with us, I was deeply moved,” claimed Julie Sochay, WKAR senior director of interaction and engagement. “I felt it was significant to share these effective tales with our local community through WKAR’s broadcast schedule. We are honored to husband or wife with the Higher education of Audio to see this challenge come to be a fact.”

Constructing on a lengthy custom of partnership, WKAR and the School of Audio began doing the job with each other to provide New music for Social Justice to tv, the place the collection could get to a wider audience.

“For many decades, WKAR and the School of Audio have designed a amount of collaborations that present significant benefit and price to the broader group,” mentioned James Forger, dean of the MSU College of Tunes. “We are delighted that the original Faculty of Songs Social Justice video clip collection has produced into however an additional successful collaboration with WKAR that will offer a new broadcast collection with larger access and excellent manufacturing values. It is powerful, meaningful information.”

With the WKAR television debut in May of 2022, Music for Social Justice has the likely to access 249,000 homes in the mid-Michigan area. By way of the PBS Online video platform, the collection will be readily available streaming nationwide. WKAR also plans to offer you the sequence to stations nationally as a result of the PBS and NETA networks.

Tunes for Social Justice was recorded on the campus of Michigan Condition University at Fairchild Theatre in the MSU Auditorium, Murray Hall of the Billman Songs Pavilion, and WKAR television studios. The collection is generously sponsored by the MSU Federal Credit Union and Michigan State University Workplace for Institutional Range and Inclusion.

New music for Social Justice is generated by Michigan Condition College Faculty of Audio and presented by WKAR General public Media.

About WKAR Community Media
WKAR Community Media is the Michigan cash region resource for award-winning original television and radio, and the most effective from PBS and NPR. WKAR is component of Michigan Condition College University of Conversation Arts & Sciences and incorporates WKAR Tv, WKAR Radio, wkar.org, WKAR Radio Looking at Service, WKAR Family members, and WKAR Ready to Understand.

About College or university of Tunes at Michigan State University
The MSU School of Tunes gives a complete assortment of degree packages from baccalaureate as a result of the doctorate, offering the optimum excellent expert mentorship to pupils, instilling a perseverance to obtain excellence and understanding in all elements of their musical schooling.