It Must Be Now! - multimedia collaborative compositions focused on advancing social justice actions through music and media

Principal Investigator
Dr. Frederick Harris, Jr., Music and Theater Arts; Susan Wilson, Center for Art, Science, and Technology; Josh Higgason, Music and Theater Arts; Laura Grill Jaye, Music and Theater Arts
Fund: Alumni Class Funds
Funding Period: AY2022
Department/Lab/Center: Center for Art

It Must Be Now! brings together over 150 MIT students with three celebrated Black musicians (Terri Lyne Carrington, Braxton Cook, Sean Jones) to create multimedia-based compositions addressing racial, environmental, and gender justice. The two-year project will create and release media content throughout the compositional process via a research and development team of students and artists led by Josh Higgason. An eventual live performance of the composition will incorporate these multimedia elements. The overall goal of the project is to address areas of racism and inequities through music, visuals, dance, and spoken word. By bringing together members of MIT’s academic and non-academic communities, It Must Be Now! intends to build a coalition promoting heightened awareness and change.