The California Institute of the Arts’ Japanese Ensemble is scheduled to perform during the Japanese installment of the city of Santa Clarita’s “Celebrate” series at the Canyon Country Community Center on Friday.
“With all of these off-campus activities, students are finding out that there are a lot more people out there who are supportive and appreciative of what they do, and share the idea with them that diversity matters,” said ensemble leader Kozue Matsumoto.
The group’s appearance at the event will come after months of debate at CalArts regarding whether or not the ensemble should be allowed to continue in an official capacity. According to Matsumoto, an open meeting headed by School of Music Dean Volker Straebel was held on April 4, where Straebel reportedly reaffirmed his decision to cease official ensemble operations.
Straebel and the CalArts School of Music did not respond to requests for comment.
“I understand confidential information must be involved in this, but the result was that no better understanding for students was achieved at the meeting,” said Matsumoto. “Rather, the meeting became more emotional, and I witnessed some heated arguments and some crying students.”
However, Matsumoto added that many of the ensemble members, along with school faculty, collectively came up with ideas for the group’s future.
Since then, the members of the Japanese Ensemble have worked to keep the group alive on their own, holding multiple fundraising events in prior months, including a “CalArts Matsuri (Japanese Festival)” in April and a fundraising gala at LA Artcore in July. The group also hopes to hold an event in Santa Clarita sometime soon.
“CalArts’ decision was very unfortunate and shocking to us,” said Matsumoto. “However, it didn’t stop students’ enthusiasm toward the ensemble.”
For more information on the “Celebrate” series, visit tinyurl.com/y43t2ben.
