EDI Guiding Statement

The LA Phil began its life as an orchestra in 1919. Today, the orchestra is the foundation and heart of an institution that has evolved to also include a wide range of performing arts presentations, the music learning initiative Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA), the stewardship of four venues—Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, The Ford, and the Beckmen YOLA Center—and a growing media presence.

Over the past 100-plus years, the LA Phil’s understanding of what we now call EDI—equity, diversity, and inclusion—has also grown more complex. What began in the 1920s as rare and isolated moments of diverse representation on stage has, over time, given way to more holistic approaches to diversity, as well as considerations of cultural equity and inclusivity.

As the organization continues to evolve, we are guided by the words of LA Phil Music & Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel who said, “The future is the present.” We take responsibility for the future through our actions and aspirations today. The following document, a summary of our beliefs and commitments to EDI, is intended to do just that—help shape our future by informing our organizational priorities and investments in the present.

The statement will act as a guide as we work to a) create a more culturally equitable, diverse, and inclusive organization and b) contribute to a more empathetic and just society through music and the arts.

It is also a living document that will grow and change as we do. A commitment to EDI is ongoing. There will always be more to learn and more work to do, as we strive to act consciously and conscientiously.

Our Core Beliefs

The following is a set of core beliefs that underpins our EDI efforts. They are important truths that represent our understanding of music, EDI, and the importance of both self-reflection and learning from others.

Power of Music

Music and the performing arts are foundational to the quality of our lives and the vibrancy and resilience of communities. They have the power to enhance empathy, understanding, and inclusion and offer a vision of a more just and compassionate world.

Importance of EDI

Centering equity, diversity, and inclusion in every aspect of our work is of critical importance in realizing our ability to inspire, empower, and connect through music and the performing arts. In our musicmaking, a commitment to EDI also strengthens the quality of the art itself, opening up new possibilities for musical excellence and invention.

Cultural Equity

We have a responsibility to work towards cultural equity. Cultural equity embodies the values, policies, and practices that ensure that all people—including but not limited to those who have been historically excluded due to race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, age, ability, and the intersection of various identities as well as those whose identities may emerge or be named in the future—have equitable access to musical, artistic, and learning opportunities as artists, advocates, audiences, and arts professionals.

Varied Perspectives

Varied perspectives help generate better ideas to solve complex problems and promote artistic and administrative creativity. In order for these perspectives to emerge and make an impact, we must foster and maintain a sense of belonging, empowerment, respect, and safety.

Continuous Learning

To remain a culturally relevant and thriving organization now and in the future, we must responsibly listen and learn from our current and potential constituencies and evolve as a result of the lessons we learn. We must also critically examine our past and our power in order to understand their impact on our arts and civic ecosystems, as well as on the individuals directly engaged with and by the LA Phil.

Our Guiding Commitments

The following guiding commitments will inform the organization’s priorities and investments and will form the basis of a more detailed EDI action plan. Through these commitments, we will embody and act on the beliefs described above by:

Access to the Arts

Providing access to musical and performing arts experiences by reducing barriers to participation and contributing to systemic change within our field and sphere of influence that will lead to greater cultural equity.

Diverse Artists, Audiences, and Arts Professionals

Diversifying the artists, audiences, and arts professionals engaged in our work. We seek to promote many different types of diversity, but because of our country’s and our field’s long history of racial inequity, we are especially invested in celebrating the talent and artistry of performers of color on stage and supporting voices of color behind the scenes.

Equitable Community Partnerships

Fostering strong, sustainable, and equitable partnerships by building trust and understanding over time through listening, collaboration, and humility. In order to establish equitable partnerships, particularly with smaller budget organizations, we must recognize the relative socioeconomic power we possess as the result of systemic racism and utilize the resources available to us responsibly.

Individual Responsibility 

Understanding equity, diversity, and inclusion as everyone’s responsibility. We will ask such questions as “Whose voice is missing from the conversation?” when considering both broad-based organizational issues and the smaller, everyday decisions that fall into our individual scopes of influence.

Company Culture

Nurturing a company culture that strives to be equitable, diverse, and inclusive by developing formal, transparent goals, policies, and practices that will sustain our EDI values; cultivating a brave space for ongoing discussion and work; and offering substantive EDI learning and growth opportunities.

Accountability

Regularly assessing the effectiveness of our equity, diversity, and inclusion practices and procedures and modifying them in response to our findings. We will further hold ourselves accountable by making our progress public through such external communications vehicles as a EDI annual report.