The Recording Academy said Wednesday that its new president and chief executive would be Deborah Dugan, the former chief of RED, the nonprofit group co-founded by Bono of U2 that works to combat AIDS and other diseases in Africa.
Dugan, the first woman to hold the top job at the 62-year-old academy, will take command of an organization that offers artists prestige and valuable TV time, yet has been embattled on many fronts. Last year, Neil Portnow, Dugan’s predecessor, was widely condemned for saying women in music should “step up” to advance their careers.
In response, some female executives demanded that Portnow resign, and the academy appointed a task force to examine the organization’s “various barriers and unconscious biases.”
The most recent Grammys ceremony, in February, was hosted by Alicia Keys, and female performers dominated the stage. The singer Dua Lipa alluded to Portnow’s comments when she accepted the award for best new artist, saying she was honored to be recognized among so many other women.
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“I guess this year we really stepped up,” Lipa said.
The Grammys have also faced strained relationships with many artists, particularly hip-hop and R&B; stars, like Drake and Frank Ocean, who have said the awards are out of touch. This year, singer Ariana Grande dropped out of a planned performance and openly feuded with Grammy producers on social media.
On a conference call with reporters, Dugan expressed her excitement about the job by invoking a line from Nietzsche: “Without music, life would be a mistake.” She added that she was committed to promoting diversity, but offered few details.
“I intend to do everything I can to make the Recording Academy, the entertainment industry and our society more inclusive and more equitable,” she said.
Dugan may also be under pressure to expand the viewership for the Grammys’ annual telecast. The audience for this year’s show, on CBS, its longtime network, was 19.9 million, slightly up from last year. But the numbers have been down from the first half of the decade, when the show routinely attracted more than 25 million viewers.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.