Vision, Mission and DEI

More than just a school of music, Lamont is a vibrant part of the Denver community. Our vision and mission for the Lamont School of Music and its programs center around providing extraordinary training to our artist-citizens as well as our commitment to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Lamont concert

Vision

The Lamont School of Music is committed to providing excellent, innovative musical training as a premier music program in the Rocky Mountain West. Focusing on the skills and experiences essential for leading a purposeful life as a musician in the 21st century, we aspire to develop artist-citizens committed to the public good. We welcome inquisitive, talented, and ambitious students from diverse backgrounds to develop the foundations of successful careers.

Lamont concert

Mission

  • to provide outstanding training in interpreting, creating, and teaching music
  • to implement a distinctive and flexible curriculum that supports a global and integrated conception of music
  • to sustain an environment for critical thinking about music in the liberal arts tradition
  • to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in our community and curriculum
  • to cultivate knowledge and skills in current and emerging music technology
  • to engage with the greater Denver community through off-campus initiatives
  • to support the development of entrepreneurship in a changing music industry
  • to develop enduring, transferable skills that apply to multiple career paths
  • to promote wellness in our musical lives and beyond

Adopted by the Faculty April 2021.

Lamont Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Statement

Music is a fundamental form of human expression that can unite and humanize people. As we confront power, privilege, and oppression today, we ask how we as musicians and scholars can foster greater equity and inclusion through our creative and educational practices. We examine how our practices are inclusive or exclusive, how they cultivate community or deepen divisions, and how our own engagements with music may unite, divide, include, or exclude. Which musics, values, and identities do we privilege in our own practices? How do we engage (or not) with diverse peoples and cultures? How does this engagement impact our creative and scholarly work? Why have we made these choices?

We strive to foster diversity, equity, and inclusion at Lamont by (1) affirming BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and other minoritized peoples through our policies, curricula, and individual actions, and (2) purposefully building a more inclusive and welcoming community based on cultural humility, trust, and self-awareness.

To this end, we are committed to:

  • introspective work to better understand and critically reexamine ourselves and our past through the lens of diversity, equity, and inclusion
  • individual and systemic change through immediate and long-term actions that address: policy, curricula, recruitment, hiring, retention, and community-engaged collaborations

We acknowledge the importance diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice have in making Lamont a vibrant, innovative, and creative space for learning about, teaching, and creating music. We recognize that meaningful change requires all members of our community to reflect, learn, and take action with curiosity and humility.