From Our CEO

AN OVERVIEW OF THE SWEET ADELINES INTERNATIONAL CHORUS TOOLKIT

Culture of Belonging:

We create harmony where every voice matters. We foster a culture that provides a joyful place to share our uniqueness within a global community united in song.

Diversity & Inclusion:

We celebrate our differences as essential to the rich harmony that unites us. As we recognize barbershop’s African American origins and learn from our exclusionary past toward women of color, we reject discrimination and unwaveringly strive toward greater awareness, openness, and understanding of each other.

The Diversity and Inclusivity (D&I) Task Force was formed in 2016 with the mandate to “provide input for the SA longterm strategic planning process and develop short-term tools to support diverse and inclusive membership in Sweet Adelines International.” Among the initiatives brought forth by the D&I Task Force (whose work is now stewarded by the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion [DEI] Council) is the Chorus Toolkit.

The Song Assessment Tool (SAT), which is used by Sweet Adelines to make more informed and intentional choices when selecting songs for their repertoire, is part of the toolkit. Its release was accelerated to coincide with the June 2020 official announcement by the International Board of Directors (IBOD) that Sweet Adelines International denounces songs with racist lyrics, messages, and history and that there would be changes to competition rules to reinforce SA’s commitment to creating a diverse and inclusive organization.

Now, more parts of the Chorus Toolkit are ready for release to choruses for use in developing their own DEI processes.

Conceived of and designed by Sweet Adelines members, the Chorus Toolkit addresses topics and situations specific to the needs of our organization. While the development of the toolkit was the mandate of the D&I Task Force, it was largely influenced by participants at a series of diversity focused events held at three successive international conventions, culminating in a generative workshop in which groups determined topics and themes for the initial draft. Sweet Adelines from a wide variety of backgrounds volunteered their time, energy, and emotional labor for this important and ongoing, work.

The toolkit is designed for exploration, discovery, to support selfreflection as well as sharing in a safe environment that recognizes people are in different places on their journey toward inclusions and creating a culture of belonging.This resource aims to help choruses create sharing experiences that call everyone to work together to ensure that our chorus environments are inclusive and welcoming for all singers. Leaders at all levels are committed to this process, and the toolkit is meant to be a living document with continuing input from members.

The Chorus Toolkit includes resources, ideas, and guidelines to help chorus leaders start and incorporate healthy DEI principles into all aspects of their ensembles. It offers assistance in creating opportunities for reflective, genuine conversation and ideas for concrete actions choruses can take to become more welcoming to current and future members and audiences. By deliberately creating more inclusive spaces, Sweet Adelines will open doors to more voices, more ideas, more friends — more of all the things we love about being Sweet Adelines.

The Chorus Toolkit is one way Sweet Adelines International is taking practical steps to truly live our Guiding Principles and create an organization that helps contribute to a more harmonious future for all.

Watch your email for news about the upcoming release of the Chorus Toolkit.