Opening Doors is a new music and interview series hosted by Alastair Moock and presented in collaboration with the Melrose Unitarian Universalist Church Anti-Racism Team. The series features top national and largely BIPOC talent playing music and discussing issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion –– within the music industry and beyond. Guest musicians will be paid a guarantee by the church and, additionally, will split online donations with an advocacy/charity organization of their choice. Shows stream live on Facebook and YouTube. More info at https://moockmusic.com/openingdoors/.

Host Alastair Moock is a Boston Music Awards-nominated singer-songwriter, a 2013 Grammy nominee for children’s music, and a well-travelled performer, speaker, and educator for all ages. Moock also a frequent contributor to NPR’s Cognoscenti blog, where his most recent piece speaks to a year of re-examination around allyship, advocacy, and his decision to decline a second Grammy nomination. Moock was inspired to create “Opening Doors” by his new collaborative education program with performer Reggie Harris around race, music, and history. The fruitful conversations he and Reggie have had with kids through the program made Moock think there was room for similar exploration in in the adult realm.

This, the Opening Doors series' second show, features Dan and Claudia Zanes. Dan, a founder of the seminal Boston-based ‘80s rock band, The Del Fuegos, went on to launch a solo career in which he emerged as “the Gold Standard in kid’s music” (NPR). He’s also a co-founder of Constructive White Conversations, an anti-racist White affinity group based in New York. In 2016, when Dan met Haitian-American jazz vocalist and music therapist, Claudia Eliaza, he not only found a new performing partner, but a new life partner as well. The two now travel the world together, performing for families and continuing to set the bar for the genre. The Zanes will donate half of the online proceeds of their show to the Black Church Food Security Network.