Soundlife Scarborough / en U of T Scarborough grad creates spaces where equity, mental health and music thrive /news/u-t-scarborough-grad-creates-spaces-where-equity-mental-health-and-music-thrive <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">U of T Scarborough grad creates spaces where equity, mental health and music thrive</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-06/deliciabanner2-cropy.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=BdJ-553m 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2023-06/deliciabanner2-cropy.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=SXy-FF-k 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2023-06/deliciabanner2-cropy.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=RvaVC4LV 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-06/deliciabanner2-cropy.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=BdJ-553m" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2023-06-09T14:34:40-04:00" title="Friday, June 9, 2023 - 14:34" class="datetime">Fri, 06/09/2023 - 14:34</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"><p><em>New U of T Scarborough graduate Delicia Raveenthrarajan is a mental health advocate, public speaker and music educator (supplied image)</em></p> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/alexa-battler" hreflang="en">Alexa Battler</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/6899" hreflang="en">Convocation 2023</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/graduate-stories" hreflang="en">Graduate Stories</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/equity" hreflang="en">Equity</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/mental-health" hreflang="en">Mental Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/music" hreflang="en">Music</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-scarborough" hreflang="en">U of T Scarborough</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">'Star on the rise': Delicia Raveenthrarajan has won awards for her advocacy and efforts to make music accessible to all</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><strong>Delicia Raveenthrarajan</strong>&nbsp;always loved singing and making music&nbsp;– until that passion waned when she was in high school.</p> <p>Raveenthrarajan, who is now graduating from U of T Scarborough with a bachelor of science, was recovering from surgery after transferring to a performing arts program at 16. Post-op complications and other health issues caused her to miss music rehearsals, and she was told she was "too sick to be a performer"&nbsp;– so she stepped away from the arts.</p> <p>“There are some spaces where well-being is second priority to the quality of music. Some people think that to be excellent you have to sacrifice personal values and well-being, but that's a really ableist notion,” Raveenthrarajan says.</p> <p>Even her non-musical peers were forgoing well-being in pursuit of high grades, and just as the music world seemed focused on everything Western and classical, she found mental health supports skewed the same way.</p> <p>So Raveenthrarajan became a staunch activist for student mental health and culturally responsive care&nbsp;– she joined clubs, advocated at the G7 Summit, became a public speaker&nbsp;and penned an article <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/im-a-student-and-this-is-how-i-know-mental-health-stigma-is-real">published in <em>Teen Vogue</em></a>, landing&nbsp;the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gg.ca/en/honours/recipients/342-78801">Governor General’s Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers</a> in 2016 for her work.</p> <p>She eventually returned to her original high school, and when her former teacher asked her to conduct the school choir, she took up the baton. While conducting at a spring concert, she unwittingly impressed members of the leadership team at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sistema-toronto.ca/">Sistema Toronto</a>, a free after-school music program for students living in underserved communities. They offered her a job as teaching-artist-in-choir, and for the past four years, she’s led classes where well-being is the purpose&nbsp;– not the price&nbsp;– of making music.</p> <p>“It’s really important that all of the students I work with are seen as whole human beings first. Their well-being takes top priority," Raveenthrarajan says.</p> <figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media align-center"> <div> <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/scale_image_750_width_/public/2023-06/delicia_goodcopy.jpg?itok=UnLNAFjB" width="750" height="500" alt="&quot;&quot;" class="image-style-scale-image-750-width-"> </div> </div> <figcaption><em>Raveenthrarajan was a panelist at the launch of Soundlife Scarborough, a new centre for music-making at U of T Scarborough that she was instrumental in developing (photo by Alexa Battler)</em></figcaption> </figure> <p>In warmups,&nbsp;Raveenthrarajan asks students to stand only if they’re able. She invites them to speak with her any time. She teaches not only how to perform pieces from a range of genres, but the social, cultural and political context behind them&nbsp;– classes on Indigenous music, for example, are grounded in talks about Truth and Reconciliation, and for an upcoming performance of a song about social justice, her students wrote their own final verse.&nbsp;She was inducted into the Scarborough Walk of Fame in 2018 by winning&nbsp;its <a href="https://www.scarboroughwalkoffame.com/rising-star-inductees/#:~:text=Musician%2C%20author%2C%20advocate%2C%20and,in%20and%20through%20the%20arts.">Rising Star Award</a> for her impact as an activist and educator.</p> <p>Upon graduating high school, Raveenthrarajan recognized a familiar teaching approach in&nbsp;U of T Scarborough’s <a href="https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/acm/music-culture">music and culture program</a> – the curriculum delves beyond Western classical music into a spectrum of genres, and balances lessons on performance with those on culture, socio-political concepts and community engagement. She double-majored in mental health studies and music and culture&nbsp;– programs she says are both ultimately “about the human experience.”</p> <p>During her undergrad, she took part in several music and arts clubs and initiatives, and played cello in the U of T Scarborough string orchestra. She also worked for years as a research assistant with the music and culture program, and helped conduct a landscape review of music programs across North America that guided the development of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.soundlifescarborough.ca/">Soundlife Scarborough</a> (SLS), a new centre for creating music-making opportunities on and off campus.</p> <p>“She was instrumental in the creation and development of Soundlife Scarborough,” says&nbsp;<strong>Lynn Tucker</strong>, SLS lead and associate professor, teaching stream, in U of T Scarborough's <a href="https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/acm/">department of arts, culture and media</a>. “I don't think we would be where we are today without her energy, insight and the work ethic she brings to the project.”&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>In 2019, Raveenthrarajan attended a conference of the&nbsp;Ontario Music Educators Association, and while she was struck by the vibrancy of the community, she noticed a Eurocentric focus on music creation and knowledge. She wrote a letter to the organization’s board and became its equity, diversity and inclusion director in her second year at university.</p> <p>“A lot of the time, social justice work is trauma-centered, and it's important to address those issues&nbsp;– but it's also important to centre well-being and spend time intentionally building the things that move toward joy, liberation, community,” she says.</p> <p>“When your identity is argued, excluded or marginalized, existing, taking up space, creating and doing the things that bring you joy are also acts of revolution. I think well-being is at the centre of that.”</p> <p>This year,&nbsp;Raveenthrarajan was shortlisted for a&nbsp;Rhodes Scholarship and a&nbsp;Fulbright Scholarship, two of the world’s most recognized and prestigious grant programs. She’ll begin pursuing her master’s in music education at U of T’s Faculty of Music in a few months, and is considering dabbling in the French horn when she's not in class.</p> <p>“She's quite inspiring,” Tucker says. “She's such a bright light.&nbsp;Her star is definitely on the rise.”</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-add-new-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Add new story tags</div> <div class="field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/soundlife-scarborough" hreflang="en">Soundlife Scarborough</a></div> </div> </div> Fri, 09 Jun 2023 18:34:40 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 301962 at