San Francisco Symphony and Conservatory Pauses Emerging Black Composers Program Due to Trump Policies

Under President Trump’s executive orders, organizations are to remove diversity efforts or face cuts to federal funding

Citing the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights’ new demands calling for the removal of “harmful” diversity efforts, the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) have currently “paused” the Emerging Black Composers Project (EBCP). 

According to Trump’s executive orders, schools must now eliminate DEI efforts or risk losing federal funding, reported the San Francisco Chronicle.

Founded in 2020, the annual EBCP aims to lower barriers Black composers face in establishing their careers by awarding winners a $15,000 commissioning fee; a premiere with the SFCM, SFS, or Oakland Symphony; plus mentorship from the music directors of those organizations. 

“It’s difficult to see really positive things stop because of a coming climate of fear,” said Trevor Weston, EBCP’s inaugural winner and chair of the music department at Drew University. “In different institutions, people are quietly saying, ‘Our school is worried that they’re coming for us.’ The fear is that a program like this (is) helping people who are somehow undeserving or receiving help over others as opposed to what it really has done, which is … helping those who were actually ignored or forgotten.”

“The government is using the pulling of funding as a cudgel to basically censor art by people they just don’t care to hear from,” explained former EBCP winner Jens Ibsen. 

This news comes as the National Endowment for the Arts has issued edicts on DEI efforts, and the Trump administration has implemented major leadership and programming changes to the Kennedy Center. 

“Educational institutions have toxically indoctrinated students with the false premise that the United States is built upon ‘systemic and structural racism,’” said Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor in a government memo, which also states that DEI programs illegally “discriminate against students on the basis of race.”

Even as SFCM students depend on federal funding for loans and grants, representatives from the SFS and SFCM jointly told the SF Chronicle that they’re trying to save the project. They are hoping that the San Francisco Symphony, which is not subject to Department of Education orders, may be able to lead the initiative. 

“The San Francisco Symphony is not impacted by this recent Executive Order and remains fully committed to ensuring that the Emerging Black Composers Project will continue,” the representatives wrote. “We are still working out the details for how the project moves forward, but this project remains important to both the Symphony and SFCM.”

The EBCP’s most recent winner Tyler Taylor will still have the opportunity to have his works heard and performed. 

“The San Francisco Symphony looks forward to giving the world premiere performance of 2024 winner Tyler Taylor’s new work during the 2025-26 Season,” the SFS and SFCM wrote.