Episode 84

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Published on:

5th Aug 2025

Even Cowboys Sing the Blues (w/Christopher Fuller & Dr. Michael C. Mason) [RE-RELEASE]

Hey, Scorekeepers! On our off weeks for the next few months, we're revisiting ART CLASS, the 12-episode series all about arts and arts education that we released last year. We hope you enjoy this stroll down memory lane!

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This episode was originally released on January 30, 2024.

Welcome back, Classmates! And thank you so much for joining us for episode 2 of Lincoln Center's ART CLASS! This week is all about preserving the legacy of Black art and culture, specifically Black music. COVID-19 and the murder of George Floyd in 2020 brought about a racial reckoning here in the US, the likes of which hadn't been seen in decades. In 2024, however, with the conservative backlash against progressive ideals and initiatives like Critical Race Theory and DEI gaining momentum in many places, it seems the pendulum has swung hard back in the other direction. This week, we talk with two scholars and artists working tirelessly to keep Black stories, Black culture, and Black art at the forefront of the national imagination. First, we chat with Dr. Michael C. Mason, PhD the first chair of the new Africana Studies Department at the Berklee College of Music, all about the creation of this exciting new program at one of the most prestigious music schools in the country (0:26:37). And later, Paige sits down with Christopher Fuller, the creator of the Black Music Project, for the first installment of their series, Kinfolk (0:57:49). They talk all about how this invaluable repository of Black history and art came to be and make the case that the story of Black music is the story of American music. All that plus, the Morning Announcements with Emile (0:54:52) and a bit of Pure Black Joy (1:32:06) to get you through the rest of the week. Class is in session, y'all!

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Hosts: Lee Bynum, Rocky Jones, Paige Reynolds

Guests: Christopher Fuller, Dr. Michael C. Mason

Contributor: Emilia Mettenbrink

Producer: Rocky Jones

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Links

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Reading List

If you're interested in learning more about the topics discussed today, here are some resources we recommend:

  • Collins, Patricia Hill. Intersectionality as Critical Social Theory. Durham: Duke UP, 2019.
  • Crenshaw, KimberlĂ©. On Intersectionality: Essential Writings. The New Press: New York, 2017.
  • Katznelson, Ira. When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-century America. W. W. Norton & Company: New York, 2005.
  • Muhammad, Khalil Gibran. The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America. Harvard UP: Cambridge, 2010.

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About the Podcast

The Score
News and commentary about art and pop culture seen through a Black and queer lens
It's time to put the arts on game! Hosts Lee Bynum, Paige Reynolds, and Rocky Jones are three Black, queer artists and pop culture aficionados, who are working every day to bring more diversity, equity, and inclusivity into the arts. Noted by The New York Times as one of the "Podcasts Opera Pros Tune To" in 2021, The Score is their provocative, thoughtful, and humorous commentary on the industry's past, present, and future, as seen through an antiracist and unapologetically Black and queer lens. Each episode features a variety of stories from a variety of perspectives that bring People of the Global Majority, queer, trans and nonbinary folks, and everyone else into the discussion of ownership over and access to the arts. From the opera house to the statehouse to your house, each episode will amplify the voices of those in the field who are pushing the boundaries of what opera is, who it is for, and how it can transform us and our communities.