Threshold Choir’s Commitment to Cultural Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Threshold Choir celebrates and affirms the beauty, dignity, and wholeness of all people and believes that everyone deserves to be treated with kindness from their first to their last breath.

To support singing as kindness for all, Threshold Choir commits to creating authentic connections with diverse communities doing end-of -life work in order to contribute to and empower a just, inclusive, and equitable world.

Cultural diversity, equity and inclusion in Threshold Choir embody the values, policies and practices that ensure that all people—including but not limited to those who have been historically underrepresented based on race, ethnicity, age, physical/cognitive ability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, size, socioeconomic status, geography, citizenship status, or religion—have access to both receiving our services and offering them.

Threshold Choir is committed to cultural diversity, equity and inclusion. Accordingly, we invite and encourage chapters to:

1. engage in the substantive learning required to become culturally conscious in their understanding and actions;
2. acknowledge and dismantle within our organization the characteristics that contribute to the culture of white supremacy;
3. allocate time and resources to reach out and engage with a diversity of communities and cultures offering end-of-life care;
4. develop songs that bring cultural inclusivity into our repertoire

We recognize that we are not experts in issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. We seek to listen, learn, and contribute from within our areas of strength and wisdom by:

• building open-hearted communities of service
• creating safer and braver spaces where we bring our whole selves
• honoring sacred spaces
• creating songs that embody caring and solace
• singing as kindness
• treating the songs, the singers, and those we sing to with love, honor, and respect.

Notes for Threshold Choir Members:

The purpose of this statement is to give TCI members and chapters a way to approach and understand the societal and cultural context in which we do our singing. As an organization, we are not separate from this context – it is part of who we are.

We encourage you to read this statement aloud at a rehearsal, and make time for questions and discussion among your members. Here are some possible discussion questions:

• How does this statement apply to your understanding of the work we are engaged in?
• Can this statement help us do our Threshold work better? If so, how?
• Does anything in the statement suggest any action(s) our chapter might take? What might those actions be?

Approved by TCI Board of Directors 3/17/2021