INFEMNITY™ Arts and Culture News

  Yesterday I treated myself to a screening of the Oscar-nominated film The Only Girl in the Orchestra , on the life of double bassist Orin O'Brien. Orin's niece, Molly O'Brien, produced and directed the film. At 30 years old, Orin auditioned for Leonard Bernstein to join the New York Philharmonic in 1966, thus becoming the first woman to perform with the ensemble. In the film we saw several newspaper articles on her appointment. Zubin Mehta was even quoted as saying that women should not be in the orchestra. André Watts Again we have Leonard Bernstein to thank for appointing the first woman instrumentalist to a post in the New York Philharmonic. He also appointed the first African-American player, Jerome Ashby, in 1979. And of course we all know about what Bernstein did to launch the career of pianist André Watts in 1963. My question is: Where are the films that document the progress of African Americans in classical music? I produced the documentary on my father's lif...

Speaking as a Black Woman, I doubt that you can imagine the disappointment we felt over the 2024 presidential election. And now salt is being poured into our wounds as DEI initiatives are dismantled, and women's rights are under attack. Democratic senators  are speaking of the "unraveling of our Democracy," while we shake our heads in disbelief. Many young Black Girls have been deeply wounded by Kamala Harris's defeat, and by the knowledge that the majority of Americans would not vote for a Black Woman. I, too, am very disheartened by the fact that Americans would not vote for a candidate as qualified as Kamala Harris simply because she is a Black Woman, and would prefer to see a convicted criminal occupy the highest office in the land. Many of you have witnessed situations where a qualified Black Woman was denied a position or promotion or salary increase, and was given no truthful explanation for the decision. Many of our Black Male colleagues simply don't have ...