Nearing the end of her second two-year term as Chair of the Board, Tammy Hurt is still working endlessly to shape a brighter future for the Recording Academy. “I’m proud of where we’ve come and I look forward to seeing where we’re going,” Hurt says. “I love being part of the change and I love never having to take my foot off the gas.”
Hurt has contributed to the betterment of the music industry for far longer than those four years. In addition to her storied career as a drummer and a long tenure with the Academy’s Atlanta Chapter, Hurt founded two organizations: boutique entertainment firm Placement Music and nonprofit organization Georgia Music Partners, an advocacy organization aimed at supporting the Peach State’s industry and culture.
But Hurt has truly shined during her time in leadership with the Academy, first as Vice Chair and then four years as Chair of the Board of Trustees. In that time, her efforts advocating for better representation for people of color, women and LGBTQIA+ individuals has helped reshape the membership to be far more representative of the contemporary music industry. Hurt’s leadership helped the Recording Academy achieve its goal of adding 2,500 women Voting Members by 2025 — in fact, adding 3,000 by the year prior. In another astounding transition, the voting body saw an increase of 65 percent in Voting Members identifying as people of color.
Hurt’s tenure also saw the launch of programs such as the Gold Music Alliance, which honors the contributions of the Pan-Asian community to the music industry; Academy Proud, which, in partnership with GLAAD and OUTLOUD, celebrates LGBTQIA+ music professionals; the RAA+D Network, which supports community members with disabilities and drives accessibility; and the Indigenous Peoples Network, dedicated to honoring and preserving the contributions of Indigenous members of the music industry.
But ever the diplomatic leader, Hurt consistently cedes credit for her successful tenure to both her collaborators in leadership and the membership base as a whole. “There’s a mindset and a spirit of change, both through Harvey and myself, but also we don’t do this by ourselves,” she says, referring to Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr. “Being able to bring in more perspectives helps make the Academy better.”
That commitment has earned Hurt many deserved accolades, including most recently being honored as part of Billboard’s Women In Music. As her time as Chair comes to a close, Hurt discussed her powerful accomplishments, the work that can still be done to advance the Academy, her advice for the yet-to-be-elected incoming Chair, and her plans for the future.
When you were elected to succeed Harvey Mason jr., it was the first time that neither of two consecutive chairs were white men. That’s incredible, and the Academy truly looks different than it did four years ago.
One thousand percent. Also, I’m only the third woman in 67 years. That’s a staggering number, but we’re moving in the right direction.
Absolutely. The work’s not complete, but your resume and the things you’ve managed to achieve in your four years are so meaningful. I can’t imagine it’s very easy just to have an idea and then make it reality.
It is definitely an exercise in consensus building. But folks are very like-minded, though. We’ve been acting with intention for quite some time.
I have personally been very active in the National Membership Committee. Before we had the new member model, the peer-driven member model, we worked on it for several years before 2019.
Change takes time. But with the right team, the right mindset, and the right intention, we’ve made some remarkable progress. But like you said, the work is never done.
Being able to even see some of the fruits of your labor must be a wonderful feeling. In so many organizations, people get into leadership positions, want to make change, and then need to move on before that happens. You’ve actually been able to champion new things and then see them happen.
You’re correct. It has taken some time. You have new members of the board. You have new members. I would say there’s a mindset and a spirit of change, both through Harvey and myself, but also we don’t do this by ourselves. This is a member-driven organization, and 66 percent of our members are new.
We talk about diversity. And a lot of it, too, is diversity of thought and being able to bring in more perspectives helps make the Academy better.
Having a bloc of the same type of person won’t make that diversification happen. And beyond the numbers, the changes in both the organization and the awards demonstrate the commitment.
Well, thank you for saying that. And I will tell you, it takes a village. It takes the whole village. It takes a partnership between the members and the leadership, the management.
There’s been a similar mindset of, basically, “Don’t take your foot off the gas, let’s make these changes and let’s make them now.” It’s been a really terrific partnership between the elected leaders and management.
We have some key champions internally — in addition to Harvey, our membership folks, our awards folks. It was our responsibility to build the membership that reflects the current culture and the current music industry. The visibility and the representation and the equity, of course, you need that balance. But at the same time, this is the music industry, and just by its nature between the different genres and geographic locations, we have a lot to include. And we have been very intentional about holding ourselves accountable.
And especially because you’re facing that membership base, you have to take accountability personally as well. With that in mind, what were the things you felt most strongly about upholding when you entered as Chair, the things that were working best?
I had a big focus on membership, and I think membership was working right. This is going back a while, but change from the way we used to do things and the change to the peer-driven [approach], there was always an appetite to change. That’s what was right.
There was always an openness — and again, it’s by the virtue and the nature of the organization as a member-led organization. Some of our best folks on the management team were once elected leaders. Harvey himself was a Trustee. Ruby Marchand was the Vice Chair of the Academy. What was working was the mindset that we needed to evolve, that we needed to continue to be representative of the organization.
Beyond that evolving spirit, what was it about the mission of the Academy that continued to inspire you over the last four years?
Well, I’ll go back to the beginning. The reason that I got involved in the Recording Academy in the first place was because I wanted to see some things change. [Laughs.]
There was a memory that popped up on one of my social media channels where I was playing drums at a GRAMMY In The Schools event. That was my first ever event that I participated in as a Recording Academy member. The other thing that I will tell you that has been right and has been remarkable — and it was my forever hook at the Academy — was advocacy. I was invited around the same time to attend Grammys On The Hill. I was able to attend as a part of the Academy and really realized how impactful you can be with music. Because music is universal. It’s bipartisan.
The Advocacy department works all year long to build relationships with our legislators. That one day a year, GRAMMYs On The Hill — and now we have Grammys In My District, the local programs — to be able to build those relationships with those legislators and then to be able to walk in as a music creator and tell the story of why something is important to me and to my community.
The legislators don’t know about the music industry. And you can see the wheels turning as you’re talking. You really understand that you’re speaking with influential lawmakers who could potentially make decisions to make your music community better. And that was so powerful. And that’s something that the Academy has been doing right for a really long time.
Advocating for music creators’ rights, not just at the federal level, but at the state and the local level, is really such an incredible component of the Recording Academy. There’s, of course, music education, advocacy, excellence, and serving. Let’s say there’s a member who joins the Academy and they want to get more involved. It’s a way for people to be able to find a place of service in the organization, because everyone knows about the GRAMMYs for one night a year. The work of the Board is really the other 364 days.
It’s about service. It’s about serving the music community. And serving the music community means many, many different things. And for me, one of the things that I’m most proud of is the ability to uplift women into these leadership positions. To support women, to encourage women, to encourage all of our members, but to get that visibility and that representation and that equity. Fifty percent of our board is women. And we’re seeing that in our Chapters as well.
Read More: State-Level Advocacy In 2025: How The Recording Academy Is Championing Music Creators Nationwide
If you have that visibility in place also committed to advocacy, it must just be a self-generating source of positive change.
Diverse groups of people make better decisions. And that’s diversity of thought, diversity of age, all kinds of diversity.
You’ve been able to be so vocal with issues like women’s safety in the music industry. Having important conversations about issues of workplace safety are much easier if you’ve got 50 percent of the conversation being women, as opposed to lone voices.
Absolutely. First of all, you have to get your own house in order. You can’t be talking about changing the world before you make sure you’ve got a good, solid foundation. We started this to develop a roadmap. And the roadmap is to go out into the music community and talk about fostering a more inclusive and respectful and safe environment for everyone in the industry.
So for the Academy to be the convener — because there are women’s groups that are doing really great work right now, and it is, again, amplifying their work and being able to aggregate resources. And safety in music means many things. It means safe from harassment. It means psychologically safe. It means being safe and being able to speak up in these environments. And I’m really excited to continue the work. It’s very, very meaningful to me personally.
It’s in offices and legal departments and accounting departments. We are all one community, and the safer the environment, the more people can thrive in what they do, whatever their craft is or whatever their profession is. That’s actually how you make things better.
What are you excited about for the next person who takes over from you from this point? I know you’ve got a few more months left, but what’s the most exciting thing for you to hand over?
Building off of this foundation that we’ve worked so hard to build over the last several years, it really is a launching pad for the vision of the next Chair, the next Board. There’s still work to do in these areas.
I think we continue to evolve the GRAMMY Awards process. I’m very, very excited about what’s to come with the new partner that the Recording Academy will have to tell the stories, with Disney. We have a big show right now, but there may be opportunities to tell the stories of the five nominees in the Best African Performance Category, or Best Pop Dance Recording.
We have a Premiere Ceremony that happens right before the GRAMMY Awards where we present 75 awards — and, you know, you’re talking about almost 1,000 nominees. Our show is the confluence of art and commerce. We have to put big names on the show, but man, that GRAMMY Premiere Ceremony, it’s a treasure trove of stories to celebrate. It’s an exciting time for the Recording Academy and this change. And I look forward to the Academy telling its story and the work that it does year-round.
What advice do you have for the person that will be taking this seat next?
In any instance, for a person who serves, it’s truly an honor to serve at this level for this organization and the music community. We all still need to be encouraged. We all still need to be supported. Being in the music industry is hard. And to be able to shine a light or uplift those within the organization and within the community, that’s our job.
From my perspective, the number one service that we provide to the music community is to be able to encourage people to be 100 percent authentically themselves, and to empower people to do great work. It’s not just about the Chair. We have a number of national committees that will be repopulated with new diverse people, diversity of thought. There’ll be new things to talk about.
You know, the last four years we’ve come through some pretty rocky waters. And the future is bright. There will be new conversations to have. There will be new Categories to contemplate. And there will still be a whole lot of work to be done. And for me, I’ll be there to advise and be a backstop whenever I’m needed.
Read More: How The 2025 GRAMMYs Signaled A Bright Future For The Recording Academy
What about you? What’s next for you, personally?
More music, more music, more music. [Laughs.] I have a project called Sonic Rebel. I have, of course, my Recording Academy duties. I have two companies. And usually my music, my performances get sort of pushed to the bottom of the list. So I’m looking forward to releasing the next mixtape. I’m looking forward to the next series of shows. I’m looking forward to being able to get back to my roots.
And as you said, you’ll be on hand to advise if you’re needed. It’s also wonderful that it’s such an ongoing relationship.
It is. I am always proud to serve. This gig is a limited-time engagement and you’ve got to make every minute count. Looking back at when I was becoming Vice Chair and both times when I was running for Chair — one of my mantras is, “Do what you say you’re going to do.” And I have done what I said I was going to do.
I’m proud of the service, but like I said, the work is ongoing. I love being part of the change, and I love never having to take my foot off the gas.
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