About Us
The DC Singer Collective offers space for mutually-supportive connection, collaboration, and advocacy for musicians in the Washington, DC metro area.
We encourage a creative re-imagining of what it means to lead a sustainable and fulfilling life in the arts, both as individuals and within our communities.
Origin Story
(cue Batman music…)
In the spring of 2021, after the classical industry and life as we had known it shut down thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of musical colleagues and friends started gathering via Zoom to stay connected and to support each other.
The conversations became increasingly wide-ranging, touching on individual experiences, frustrations, and successes. Members of the group spoke frankly with one another about the systemic challenges that singers face. It was a reminder of how much grit and resilience all artists use to build and sustain their creative careers throughout every phase of life.
We organized into a collective in order to continue to support one another and to bring a sense of community into our day-to-day lives and creative work. The group is evolving, but currently aims to present at least one larger, community-focused concert every year, as well as more specialized concerts: we are currently focusing on Baroque music through our offshoot, Campo delle stelle. You’ll find information on both on this site.
Cheers and thanks for stopping by!
– Genevieve McGahey, founder & chief artistic director
& the members of the DC Singer Collective
Our Values
Community – Inspired by the concept and history of mutualism and cooperative organizations, the DC Singer Collective operates from the understanding that we are stronger together. We value resource and perspective sharing, as well as the productive value of working through difficult conversations together. We agree to run meetings as facilitated conversations built on openness, curiosity, and respect.
Equity – Classical music has an equity problem, one that is tied to the unjust economic, racial, and ableist systems in which we live and perform. The Collective aims to center this reality in our conversations and work. We acknowledge that survivorship bias continues to shape who is included and who is excluded from artistic spaces and conversations.
Abundance – Operating in an extremely competitive industry in a country with a dearth of arts funding, musicians and artists are often told (explicitly and implicitly) that we must be ruthless in order to succeed. The DC Singer Collective aims to disrupt this scarcity mindset. We encourage vulnerability, as well as a commitment to creating and modeling the types of mutually generative artistic experiences that we crave.