Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

“A pedagogy of love”

Human rights activist honored for years of teaching music to marginalized communities

André De Quadros’ work as an educator, choral director, composer, and researcher is driven by justice, diversity, and community—especially for marginalized people in the Arab world, on the US-Mexico border, and in prisons.

The College of Fine Arts professor of music and music education says giving people space to create, write, sing, move, and connect is what matters most, wherever his teaching takes place. “My work’s foundation is a pedagogy of love.”

Last year, in honor of his career-long dedication to vulnerable communities, Chorus America—an advocacy and leadership development organization with the mission of advancing the choral field—awarded de Quadros the 2021 Brazeal Wayne Dennard Award, offering this tribute:

“Through his work on faculty in the Department of Music Education at Boston University and beyond, de Quadros celebrates diverse choral traditions from around the globe and expands the definitions of choral practice to include the voices of those on the margins.”

For more than a decade, de Quadros has taught in BU’s Prison Education Program, and in 2021, he co-led BU’s Race, Prison, Justice Arts project, which aims to foster dialogue through art-making about race and justice among students, faculty, staff, and currently or formerly incarcerated individuals.

And recently, de Quadros was the lead author of Poking the WASP Nest: Young People, Applied Theatre, and Education about Race (Brill, 2021), which looks at how an Australian youth theater group used performance to challenge its local community to rethink racist assumptions.

“Perhaps the arc of justice is tilting,” he says. “I don’t think 20 years ago people recognized how important it is to work in this area of justice, equity, and diversity.”