# @thekansascitystar on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/CsjMPsSs0rN
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/18810530-thekansascitystar-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/5aa75ea0d9.jpg
- **Posted:** 2023-05-22T15:07:14.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Kansas City Star (@thekansascitystar) — https://gondola.cc/thekansascitystar

## Caption

In early May, internationally acclaimed percussionist Josh Jones sat unemployed and holding back tears inside the Kansas City home he had purchased to be closer to his mother.

Only weeks before, he had felt like a very different Josh Jones: Principal percussionist of the Kansas City Symphony, and almost, the first Black man to receive tenure in the institution’s 40-year history.

But that did not happen.

Now, the 31-year-old has been denied tenure, leaving him with no job and no health care with less than a year left in his cancer treatment.

He says the symphony held him, the only Black musician brought in for a long-term position, to a higher standard than his white counterparts. Jones said he felt isolated and, at times, treated inappropriately by staff due to his race.

In an initial, Nov. 11, 2021, letter assessing Jones’ performance on the tenure track, the symphony’s music director repeatedly referred to him as “an exceptional talent” and “an extraordinary citizen in the orchestra and the larger community.”

But as the process continued through follow-up assessments, the director revealed concerns over Jones’ ability to lead his section of the orchestra, culminating in a final Jan. 26 letter saying “improvement in the various issues… was not sufficient,” and Jones would not be given tenure, which his position relied on.

Read the full story at the link in our bio. 

#KansasCity #KCSymphony #KC #LocalNews

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 1,356
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 35

## Tags

localnews, kcsymphony, kc, kansascity

---
Copyright (c) Gondola