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The New Canon Project:

Bringing New Voices

to the Canon

risingtidearts.org by Robyn Hilger

ACDA National Executive Director

A version of this article was originally printed in Tactus (Spring/ works from Black and Latine composers specifically for
Summer 2025), a publication of Western ACDA Region. school-based choral and string ensembles.
As choral educators, we understand the power of
music to shape identity, build community, and reflect
This is a project developed on a napkin while sitting the world around us. Yet when we look at the repertoire
on a patio. Lynn Tuttle, the Director of the American most commonly found in our developing school music
String Teachers Association, and I found ourselves at classrooms, it can tell a narrow story—one that fails to
a conference together almost three years ago. While fully reflect the diversity of voices in our communities
we did not know each other before this meeting, we or the richness of musical expression that exists beyond
quickly found kindred spirits in each other. Through the traditional canon.
conversation, we recognized that each of our organi- This project is not just about creating new music. It’s
zations had a similar need: more works for developing about shifting systems.
ensembles written by composers of the global majority.
At the same time, the Sphinx Organization had a call
for proposals open for ideas that supported artists of Why Now?
Black and Latine backgrounds with a focus in classical There continues to be awareness in our profession
music. We knew we had matching ideas and the poten- about the need to diversify the music we teach and per-
tial for funding! form. But simply wanting to program more inclusive
Unfortunately, we didn’t save the napkin, but we do repertoire is not enough; we need to create the con-
have the results of that work. Three years ago, ACDA, ditions in which that repertoire is created, supported,
in partnership with the American String Teachers As- and sustained. The New Canon Project addresses these
sociation (ASTA), Rising Tide Music & Arts (RTMP), needs head-on by specifically supporting composers
and with generous support of $100,000 from the starting from the commission through professional
Sphinx Venture Fund, launched the New Canon Proj- development, workshopping, and all the way through
ect—a groundbreaking initiative designed to build publication and distribution. This project has created a
a vibrant new body of repertoire by commissioning pipeline for composers and their works.

34 CHORAL JOURNAL October 2025 Volume 66 Number 3