"Worthy." That's the word that singer-songwriter India.Arie had projected behind her when she performed at this year's Grammy Awards ceremony, before the telecast. The timing couldn't have been more apt.
I recently sat down with India.Arie — a four-time Grammy winner and 22-time nominee — to talk about some of the controversies that have burst into public view. Artists and industry executives are demanding to have a greater presence for women at the Grammys, and in the music industry more broadly. And those calls for greater inclusion and diversity intensified after the president and CEO of the Recording Academy, Neil Portnow, as well as the producer of the Grammy telecast, Ken Ehrlich, both made statements after the awards that, critics say, demeaned the contributions of female musicians and women working in the industry.
Neil Portnow walked back his comments a few days later. And the Recording Academy, also known as the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, or NARAS, pledged to create a task force for inclusion and diversity. Earlier this week, the Recording Academy named Tina Tchen as the chair of that new group. But that task force is just beginning to come together.
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