Reframing Conservatory Education Through Africana Studies

Studying technique helps performing arts students answer the “how” questions: how to play staccato bowing on the violin, for instance, or land a grand jeté. But it is context—historical, social, cultural, and personal—that helps them answer the “why.” 

Berklee’s Africana Studies Division provides Boston Conservatory students with essential context for the study of Black creative expression in dance, music, and theater. This learning process sheds light on systemic inequities that have shaped the performing arts landscape as it exists today, and it offers a platform on which to build a more inclusive future.

“We really are focused on providing the social and cultural contexts of the art forms for which students are training,” says Dr. Mike Mason, chair of the Africana Studies Department. “We want to provide those contexts for students so that it’s part of their overall education in terms of not just learning the technical side of things but also, where did this come from? And what/who were some of the influences?”

Mason’s department is housed within Berklee’s larger Africana Studies Division, which offers courses rooted in the African diaspora—including a minor in Africana Studies—to both Boston Conservatory at Berklee and Berklee College of Music students. In the spring 2025 semester, the division will add its first-ever course at Berklee Online, Black Creative Expression: Introduction to Africana Studies. The division also oversees the Africana Studies Center, which serves students in myriad ways: providing mentorship, encouraging culturally responsible scholarship, and supporting special event programming for all students.

Since Mason was appointed as the inaugural chair of Africana Studies in 2023, the department has been expanding its curricular offerings with Boston Conservatory students in mind. In the 2023–2024 academic year, for instance, it partnered with the Conservatory to design a new course on African American classical composers. And now this fall, the department is launching its biggest endeavor to date: a bachelor’s degree in Black music and culture available to all Berklee College of Music undergraduates. Although the major is for students at the College, it’s still great news for Boston Conservatory students, who are now able to enroll in Africana courses—and earn credit towards an Africana Studies minor, as well as fulfill some of their liberal arts and sciences degree requirements.

“That was a huge plus for me, knowing that I could study Black traditions here while I’m also obtaining my violin performance degree. I feel like that’s an opportunity that students don’t have at other conservatories.” 
—Caden Burston

Interpreting a work of art requires an understanding of the context in which it was made, Mason says, pointing to choreographer Alvin Ailey as one example. To perform Ailey’s choreography in a meaningful way, dancers should know where he came from—why his upbringing in the segregated South, paired with his nuanced perception of Black popular dance, led to the creation of his own company, the now-legendary Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. With this context, students can recognize that forming the first Black repertory dance company in 1958 was more than a personal artistic achievement—it was a triumph of the civil rights movement.  

The impact of the Africana Studies Division can be felt by all Boston Conservatory students, not simply those who choose to declare the minor. For music students in particular, it has played a role in reshaping core music history curriculum and broadening repertoire selection for ensembles. Since 2022, all Music Division students have taken a new required course, Music in Context, which places Western classical music within the broader framework of global traditions from Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Caden Burston (BM '25, violin) began their studies at Boston Conservatory before the expansion of the music history curriculum. In the years since, they’ve seen a change in the repertoire that fellow students are choosing to perform in recitals. “I’ve noticed a cultural difference at BoCo, ever since the extra [music history] semester was added. More people are playing works by composers that are Black, and works by Latino composers,” Burston says. “All of a sudden, I saw so many recital posters with composers that I thought nobody else knew about.”

In major ensembles as well, Burston has seen more inclusive repertoire selection, along with greater care given to providing personal and historical background about Black composers whose works were largely overlooked in their lifetime. “Our conductors were actually talking about ‘How do we play this music with the right knowledge to be able to express it correctly?’—in the same way that they would talk about playing Beethoven’s sixth before rehearsing it,” Burston says. “I feel like all of the composers and all of the pieces are receiving equal attention. And in turn, the programs were more thoughtful and more historically put together.”

After attending a majority-Black performing arts high school in Columbus, Ohio (“It’s called Fort Hayes Arts and Academic High School, if you want to shout them out,” Burston says), they chose to attend Boston Conservatory, in large part, because of the prominence of the Africana Studies Division. “That was a huge plus for me, knowing that I could study Black traditions here while I’m also obtaining my violin performance degree,” they say. “I feel like that’s an opportunity that students don’t have at other conservatories.”

 “It’s very much a welcoming space that holistically supports students. I struggle to call it just a program or a minor, because it’s so much more than that to me.” 
—Caden Burston

Burston, who is minoring in Africana studies, has found that the division provides far more than a diverse curriculum, it helps students find connection with other Black artists, both on campus and in the broader performing arts world. In January 2024, Burston was one of nine Conservatory students who attended the annual SphinxConnect conference in Detroit, Michigan—a trip that was funded and organized by Africana Studies. As the Sphinx Organization’s flagship event, the conference gathers artists, leaders, and students  from around the world to address systemic obstacles to classical music education among Black and Latino communities.

“Getting to build connections with other people who also study Black music and care about diversity, equity, and inclusion in the arts was really important for me,” Burston says. 

Their all-around involvement with Africana Studies has been an integral part of their Boston Conservatory experience, and they express sincere gratitude for division faculty and staff. “You can walk into their office at any time if you have an issue or you just want to talk. It’s very much a welcoming space that holistically supports students.”   

“I struggle to call it just a program or a minor, because it’s so much more than that to me,” they say.

The Africana Studies Department will be holding its first major and minor information session on Thursday, September 19 from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in Seully Hall.