The University of Arkansas’ Inspirational Chorale, led by Jeffrey Murdock, director of the Arkansas Center for Black Music.
The University of Arkansas has created the Arkansas Center for Black Music and a new master’s program on Black sacred music through an $848,000 gift from the Alice L. Walton Foundation.
Both the center and the master’s program are being led by Grammy Award-winning educator Jeffrey Allen Murdock, who is also the U of A’s director of choral activities, an associate professor of music and conductor of the university’s Inspirational Chorale.
The Walmart heir’s gift will help cover startup costs for the center and degree, including recruiting and retaining top teaching talent and prospective students, the university said in a news release.
The Arkansas Center for Black Music’s mission is to advance the research, development, and dissemination of Black music, the growth of leaders and scholars in this field, and the elevation of Black music in academic, professional, and community music spaces. It will host events like the annual Black Music Symposium, the UARK Jazz Festival, and the Jazz Signature Series.
The degree program, which will be held in the summer, is believed to be the first of its kind in the U.S. It offers graduates a pathway to the contemporary music industry, preparing them for roles as church musicians, choir directors, gospel music performer and songwriters, and producers of gospel and related music like hip-hop, soul and R&B.
“We are so thrilled that the University of Arkansas will be a home for the next generation of artists and scholars in Black music in all its forms from jazz to rock to gospel to hip-hop and beyond,” Jake Hertzog, assistant professor of music and head of the U of A’s jazz program, said in the release.
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