I am thankful that Supervisor Mar and the City of San Francisco has taken a stance to stand up for the importance of diversity in our American Songbook. While many may not care about the GRAMMY's and view them as frivolous, I will assure you the artists do not. In this era where Jazz, Latin Jazz, Blues, Gospel, Cajun/Zydeco and severa l American music forms are being dropped from record labels, radio air play and where these recordings are no longer funded by commerical means, a GRAMMY nomination still has significant meaning in the quality venues of performances, of artists pay and philanthropic grant potential.
It is imperative that we all stand up for fairness and equitable justice. What NARAS did in changing the rules and dropping the categories of these genres, happened behind closed doors, without membership awareness or approval and yet their very Mission states they exist to fairly promote the American Songbook - click here to read.
At this time, artists cannot receive a grammy in Gospel, Latin Jazz, Classical, Cajun/Zydeco, Hawaiian, Native American, best male and female categories in R&B, there is now only one category for blues, yet there are 12 for country, 12 for hip hop and several for rock n'roll - where would Hip Hop and Rock n' Roll be for not the clave of Latin Jazz, the 12 bar of blues, the righteousness of Gospel, the Soulfulness of Native American music... We are all one and by not recognizing these valuable intrinsic art forms to our musical landscape we are not only hurting ourselves, we are hurting our future.
Many of the artists I work with are also educators. Without the awards process and the aspirations to reach for them, it is possible we limit the access of future artists and understanding of intrinsic cultural value.
I urge you to support this resolution and to take a stand for equality and justice and to stand and support the American Songbook and all of its cultural significance.
For more information please visit www.grammywatch.org or www.urbanmusicpresents.com/grammynarasarticles and please sign this petition that over 5,700 others have done and lastly and importantly BOYCOTT the GRAMMY TELECAST and send a message that our American Songbook is not being represented and that this needs to change now! Sincerely,
Stephanie Dalton
Stephanie Dalton, Director
Urban Music Presents
Jazz*Community*Accessibility
The Resolution Reads:
This resolution to reinstate the 31 categories of music that were dropped by the National Academy of Arts and Sciences (NARAS) for GRAMMY consideration on April 6, 2011 supports the music genres that are truly reflective of the contemporary musical landscape and cultural diversity of the United States.
WHEREAS, the City and County of San Francisco, which maintains a proud tradition as a hub of cultural and musical diversity, is home and host to valuable contributors of the American musical lexicon, including numerous GRAMMY®-nominated and -winning composers, artists and professionals; and
WHEREAS, NARAS, an influential nonprofit 501(c)(6) organization, is based in California and home to 30% of its 20,000+ members, and includes a San Francisco Chapter; and
WHEREAS, the decision to drop the 31 categories from GRAMMY consideration was done by secret committee without consulting the voting membership of NARAS and without local chapters' Board of Governors' knowledge; and
WHEREAS, the eliminated categories include Latin Jazz, Contemporary Jazz, Hawaiian, Cajun, Zydeco, Native American, Tejano, Classical Crossover, Instrumental Rock, along with significant reductions in awards given to the categories of Gospel, Blues and R&B; and
WHEREAS, protests and meetings have occurred in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Hawaii, Chicago, New Orleans, and other national locations to resolve this severe and extremely insensitive blow to cultural expression and recognition in our country; and
WHEREAS, respected GRAMMY-winning and -nominated artists, including Paul Simon, Herbie Hancock, Bonnie Raitt, Carlos Santana, John Santos, John Calloway, Eddie Palmieri, Wayne Wallace, Bobby Sanabria and many others have joined NARAS members, colleagues, and past Chapter governors in writing letters and signing a petition with 5,000 cosigners urging NARAS to reverse their secret decision and reinstate the GRAMMY categories; and
WHEREAS, national and international media coverage (KTVU, San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC, Reuters, BBC, Wall Street Journal, etc.) has been given to the outcry against this unjust and harmful decision in over 1,200 national and international stories published and syndicated in print, broadcast, and digital formats; and
WHEREAS, NARAS has a responsibility to their voting membership to ensure that ethical decision practices are maintained because the GRAMMY is considered to be the highest award achievable for music excellence in the Unites States and therefore should strive to include genres and categories of particular creative and foundational significance; and
WHEREAS, the thousands of affected musicians, engineers, manufacturers, composers, arrangers, graphic artists, publicists, distributors, and other industry professionals who work in the eliminated categories will suffer economically from not being able to participate in the GRAMMY awards; and
WHEREAS, thousands of California consumers and patrons of these important musical traditions have also been negatively affected and disrespected by this ill-advised decision; and
WHEREAS, the NARAS leadership has acknowledged that a "mistake" was made indicates that these genres should never have been eliminated in the first place;
NOW THEREFORE, be it resolved that the San Francisco Arts Commission urges the National Academy of Arts and Sciences to immediately reinstate the eliminated categories in order to restore integrity and diversity to the GRAMMY Awards and fulfill the organization's responsibilities to its membership and as a nonprofit organization representing the interests of diverse musicians and recording professionals; and be it
FURTHER RESOLVED, that the San Francisco Arts Commission directs its administrative staff to send copies of this resolution to NARAS National Board Chair George Flanigen, Board Secretary Glenn Lorbecki, and President Neil Portnow.
