ACADEMY CREATES
BLACK MUSIC COLLECTIVE

The Recording Academy has created a Black Music Collective (BMC), a group of prominent Black-music creators and professionals who share the common goal of amplifying Black voices within the Academy and the music community.

Jeffrey Harleston, Jimmy Jam, Quincy Jones, Debra Lee, John Legend and Sylvia Rhone will serve as honorary chairs of the BMC. A leadership committee will be confirmed in the coming weeks and will work in sync with the honorary chairs. Recording Academy Trustee Riggs Morales and Washington, D.C. Chapter Executive Director Jeriel Johnson will lead the initiative internally.

The collective will serve as a space for members to speak openly about new and emerging opportunities in Black music across all genres and identify ways to drive more representation.

"The Black Music Collective is necessary to help drive the Recording Academy into a new era. Creating an open space for Black music creators can only benefit our membership as a whole," said Harvey Mason Jr., the Academy's Chair and Interim President/CEO.

The BMC fulfills the goal of creating a Black-music advisory group that arose from July’s partnership between the Academy and the racial-justice organization Color of Change.

Future announcements regarding the Recording Academy's recent initiatives can be found here.