Megan Ross is a physician, however humbly, she will not allow you to name her that. Along with receiving her bachelor’s diploma in music from the Faculty of the Holy Cross, Ross has a powerful two grasp’s levels; one in Historic Musicology from Boston College and the opposite in Musicology from College Of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the place she additionally earned her Musicology PhD in 2019.
After leaving Worcester in 2011, Ross has returned to the 508 on a mission to convey constructive social change to the streets of our metropolis by the factor she loves most: Music.
Since January, Ross has been govt director for the Worcester chapter of the Hip Hop Congress, a global nonprofit centered on the evolution of hip-hop tradition by merging academic, public occasions with hip-hop arts: DJing, MCing, breakdancing, and graffiti.
Among the many most seen outcomes of the Hip Hop Congress’ accomplishments has been the institution of the Living Local Archive, an effort to have a good time and doc the historical past of hip-hop in Worcester by the digital preservation of associated artwork, artifacts, audiovisual supplies, publications and pictures.
When discussing the duty of being an educator, Ross, a visiting professor of music at each Clark College and Holy Cross, strongly emphasised her opinions about imposing community-based studying to bridge the hole between cultures who in a method or one other misunderstand one another.
“You possibly can’t educate music, in my view, with out having a way of what tradition and neighborhood is. I will not be a hip-hop practitioner, I’m actually not somebody who can converse on the Black American expertise, however what I can present is that historic lens, I may be an educator, I might help convey their music and their work into the sunshine of a broader neighborhood.”
Ross says that hip-hop, “will get such a foul repute, largely due to its commercialized persona. Should you truly get again to the roots of hip-hop tradition, the authenticity of hip-hop — which most of the artists right here embody of their residing expertise — that is not the (expletive) you are listening to on the radio, the glorification of violence, and misogyny, that is not true hip-hop tradition.” She provides that hip-hop was initially a acutely aware artwork kind, reflecting on the life experiences of largely minority artists popping out of the “Burning Bronx” within the Nineteen Seventies, referencing the devastating collection of fires that are largely seen as one of many catalysts for the inventive motion.
Out of 20 Hip Hop Congress neighborhood chapters throughout america, says Ross, “Our department has finished essentially the most out of any of the branches when it comes to funding, programming, and neighborhood outreach.”
Ross, who describes herself as “an instructional with a survival strategy of grant writing,” believes lack of funding poses the best risk confronted by the hip-hop neighborhood and its artists. “A lot of instances hip-hop artists particularly aren’t actually receiving the monetary help that they deserve and want,” says Ross. “I attempt to leverage my privilege as a lot as I can.”
After shedding her mom throughout her school years and turning into estranged from her father, Ross says the hip-hop neighborhood has given her a way of household and belonging she’s by no means felt.
“The hip-hop neighborhood saved me greater than I’ve finished for them. They’ve embraced me, they’ve supported me. They saved my profession in some methods, too. Forming the Hip Hop Congress and internet hosting all these community-based studying actions actually helped me really feel alive once more,” Ross mentioned.
