Music for Social Justice

In the midst of the movement that began following the murder of George Floyd, faculty members in the MSU College of Music felt the need to speak out on issues of inequality. They chose to do so through music with the video series Music for Social Justice.

This powerful series includes performances by MSU artists with insightful, often moving comments from the artists themselves. In some cases, the artists offer additional listening recommendations. All videos in the nine segments were produced by the College of Music alone and topically remain in solidarity with the anti-racism movement in the country in 2020 and 2021. While this will remain a prominent topic, the series as a whole is open to other significant social justice topics as well.

The first nine segments led to an exciting expansion of the series in partnership with WKAR-TV. In 2022, work began to expand the video series into a limited run television program to air on the PBS network. Following the same concept, the episodes are hosted by Damien Sneed and featured a total of 15 segments among seven episodes. Licensing limits what is still viewable, but some episodes remain available through WKAR and are viewable below.

In 2023, the partnership between the College of Music and WKAR continued with the production of six new segments featuring College of Music theorists, educators, musicologists, and academic staff. Through it all, the Music for Social Justice series was generously sponsored by the MSU Federal Credit Union.