Entrepreneurial Musicianship at NEC

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The Entrepreneurial Musicianship Team

Interview with Rachel Roberts

We are excited to share a recent interview that EM Director Rachel Roberts contributed to the Arts Entrepreneurship Educator’s Network. This website is edited by Gary Beckman, Director of Entrepreneurial Studies in the Arts at North Carolina State University, and a great friend to EM. We encourage you to poke around the AEEN website—you’ll find a robust collection of articles, editorials, online resources, and more. We’re honored to be one of the featured programs, and very much look forward to exchanging ideas with our colleagues in the field.

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Rachel Roberts
Director of Entrepreneurial Musicianship
Entrepreneurial Musicianship @ NEC
Posted 8.15.2011
 
1. Entrepreneurship education is quickly becoming a standard offering in conservatories across the country. Can you briefly describe how the Entrepreneurial Musicianship program began?

NEC’s EM program grew out of a strategic planning process that began when President Tony Woodcock was hired in 2007. Tony and the strategic planning leadership identified a need for this type of education, and subsequently made entrepreneurship training a strategic priority. The WolfBrown consulting group was engaged to complete a preliminary survey of what entrepreneurship could look like at NEC. When I was hired in late 2009, I used this report as the basis for 10 months of research and development (including interviews with over 350 individuals, both within and outside of the NEC community). The Entrepreneurial Musicianship Department’s first official year was the 10/11 school year, and we’re gearing up for an expanded program in year two.

2. As director, how did you approach faculty relationships and develop programming?

Relationship building is one of the most crucial aspects of our work! We have a tremendous resource in NEC’s faculty, many of whom are musical entrepreneurs in their own right. From my first day at NEC, I tried to engage in open dialogue with our faculty. I first approached the heads of various departments and programs, then naturally continued these discussions with other faculty through recommendations and connections. I firmly believe that the success of our initiative will always be linked to the level of ownership that students and faculty have over the program. Because of this belief, I find myself always looking for two things in building relationships: 1) listening to what people have to say, either in the form of feedback or about what they’d like to see happen and, 2) finding ways to directly engage people in the various EM activities.

3. What, in your mind, is the most innovative aspect of your program?

I believe the most innovative aspect of our program is something that is still evolving - genuine integration within our school. The EM department is working towards becoming a part of NEC’s culture, and we’re beginning first by meeting students and faculty where they are. Our department dedicates a lot of time to finding unique ways to be present at every turn (for example, finding creative ways to have a presence in our school newspaper, The Penguin), and to find multiple avenues into the conversations and opportunities that we offer. We’ve partnered with studio faculty members to present a seminar during a studio class times, and have partnered with classroom faculty to work on a project together. As these relationships and ideas continue to grow, we still uphold the two fundamental principles of the EM department: creating individualized experiences and  experiential learning opportunities. Through all of these efforts, we’re becoming part of the fabric of NEC.

4. Can you describe a few challenges you faced during your first year and the solutions you developed to overcome these obstacles?

The biggest challenge I faced during the first year was time. There are (of course!) multiple layers to the time challenge, though I found the most crucial part is finding / creating time when students are available for extra-curricular activities. Students’ schedules are packed full of lessons, rehearsals, performances, and classes. While large numbers of students have an interest in this topic, it is often hard for them prioritize taking time away from one activity to spend on another. As referenced in answer #3 above, the time challenge is partially why our focus has been on integration, individualization, and experiential learning. When we are working with a student on EM, we look to make the most out of the experience. Additionally, we’ve seen that when EM topics and conversations become a part of the daily conversation, over time it becomes a natural extension of a student’s curiosity. This in turn often leads a student to seek out conversations, guidance, or action with EM ideas on their own terms.

5. Have students embraced the program?

Absolutely! The most visible part of the program has been with our Entrepreneurial Grant initiative. In only the first year, we’ve awarded 25 students grants to fulfill their projects (check out www.necmusic.edu/em/grants to see their projects). Whether the outcome was a great success or a successful failure, being awarded funds to fulfill an idea has been an empowering experience for our students. It’s also spurred many discussions with their student peers about what might be possible projects in the future.

In our required undergraduate course, one homework assignment is that each student is individually matched with an E-Advisor for conversations. We’ve deliberately matched the student with one of our 120+ Advisors to inherently build networking and communication skills. While this assignment was initially met with dread (what do you mean I’m going to talk with someone I don’t know?!?), this assignment ended up being a course highlight for many students as it gave them a window into what life is like beyond school.

Lastly, one of the most exciting things that happened towards the end of the year was students forming their own EM discussion group, Project 231. Many questions were left unanswered from the 50-minute / 14 week course, and students asked to have a time before graduation to talk through more questions. The EM department facilitated the evening discussion, which lasted nearly 3 hours. At the end of the session, the students decided to create their own discussion group this fall for these types of open conversations. Named Project 231 (231 = the room number of where we met), I’m really excited to see how this student-run discussion group evolves.

6. How is the Boston arts community involved with the Entrepreneurial Musicianship program?

A portion of the EM’s work has been to create ‘field experience’ opportunities for our students. This initiative builds on the arts admin internships that have traditionally been offered at NEC, and adds Entrepreneurial Internships, a new opportunity developed this past semester (providing students with 3-tiered experience in administration, communications, and professional rehearsal/performance). Some field experiences will remain as internships, yet we need to be flexible to fit each student’s individual needs. (For example, we matched a senior trombonist and soon-to-be medical student with one of our E-Advisors for conversations about music and medicine. The E-Advisor is a practicing surgeon, and the interest / conversation between the two developed to a point where the E-Advisor invited her to sit in on a surgery he performed). At the same time, we’re building a healthy roster of community arts partners who are interested in the EM approach to learning. This will always continue to develop over time, yet it’s wonderful to see the wide variety of interest, engagement, and potential experiences for NEC students. The possibilities are endless!

7. Alumni support is always critical to innovative efforts such as this. What has been the alumni reaction to your efforts?

I’ve seen an overwhelming response from NEC alumni, most a bit jealous that this program didn’t exist when they were in school! The alums have provided valuable insight into what they wish they would have been prepared for, and advice on how we might be successful in creating classes or seminars that would address these needs. Many alums have offered to lead seminars or classes, and an even greater number have signed up to be E-Advisors to our students (55% of our E-Advisor roster is NEC alums!). All of our seminars and workshops are open to alumni (we’re hoping to stream these online this year, so more than just Boston-based alumni can participate), and in a few years I’m planning to create an Entrepreneurial Alumni Grant program. It’s fantastic to see this kind of response from our alums, and I hope to continue to build on their interest in ways that benefit both them and our students.

8. Do you see international student groups participating in your programming?

In somewhat limited numbers, yes. Our first and most direct opportunity is with the undergraduate class, which is a required course for our entire undergraduate population. We’ve seen other international students come to various seminars or extra-curricular learning opportunities. We’ve also seen a relatively large number of this population who have come into the office for individual advising sessions. I believe working with international students is a great opportunity that we all have in front of us. Whether an international student wants to remain in the US after school or whether they’d like to return home, there are different strategies for building careers in different countries. (Again, our alumni are great resources for beginning to understand these differences.) I also believe this would be a great topic for colleagues around the country to discuss and share learning on!

9. Can you see aspects of the EM program working at private colleges or public universities?

Yes, definitely! However, I doubt an exact replica of NEC’s program would work at many other places. After spending 10 months in research and development for the EM program during which I specifically sought out meetings with various institutions of higher education, I have not found two programs that come close to looking the same. Additionally, entrepreneurship is interpreted differently by each institution and by each individual involved (faculty and student alike). These different perspectives actually provide a great place to begin conversations with colleagues on different campuses. At NEC, we found that it’s not an exact definition of ‘entrepreneur’ that matters, but rather the mindset of the entrepreneurial approach that provides the foundation for the EM initiatives. When you can engage colleagues with why they feel entrepreneurship is important and what they would like most students to have from this type of learning, you’re able to find common ground to begin to create something that fits within your school. Whether it’s a course, a grant initiative, a seminar series, individual advising sessions, or even a conversation group, there is always a way to get students involved in some type of EM program.

10. In your opinion, how important will EM be to the fabric of NEC in 2021?

In my opinion, I think EM will be fully integrated and a crucial piece of the school’s culture by 2021, especially as the arts industry continues to evolve in the next 10 years. Along with all that we’re creating now, I believe technology will play a central role in the expansion of the musicians’ “toolbox”.

That said, I suppose time will only tell what really happens in the next 10 years, so feel free to keep tabs on how NEC’s EM department is developing! You can find us online at the links below, and I’d always welcome conversations about what’s happening in the field.

Facebook: “New England Conservatory Entrepreneurial Musicianship”
Twitter: @necentrepreneur
Blog: www.emusicianship.tumblr.com

Big Order To Fill

We were blown away this morning when a rough cut of one of Wayne Shen’s instructional Project Violin videos arrived in our inbox. Wayne received a grant in the fall to develop an immersive online violin studio—a tall, but promising order. Below, Wayne reflects on the evolution of Project Violin and the key experiences that have influenced his approach.

Thanks Wayne for sharing this fine content, and for reminding us that good posture, with or without a violin in hand, is paramount!

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The idea for Project Violin took root in fall 2010 as I was starting up my semester at NEC. The plan was simple enough: use the power of the web to teach kids how to play the violin, and make it an engaging experience to boot! My head filled with images of social networking, web apps, expansion plans, and all sorts of goodness. All in all, a pretty big order to fill.

To start out with, I planned to post video lessons online. I started filming in February. However, around this same time, I got a call from a friend of mine (also an NEC alum) who offered me the opportunity to take over his position at BASIS Tucson, a unique charter school that Newsweek and the Washington Post both ranked among the top five schools in the USA.

I decided to take the job, assuring Eva and Rachel in the Entrepreneurial Musicianship Department that Project Violin would go on as planned. However, once in Arizona, I discovered that my new job consumed any spare time or energy that I had. Project Violin effectively went on hiatus until the end of school in late May.

Despite the interruption, my tenure at BASIS Tucson gave me a lot of think about in terms of Project Violin. Working with both middle school and high school students, I learned more about how to help them learn effectively (although I still have a lot to learn on that topic!)

As a result, I realized I needed to restructure some ideas about how Project Violin lessons would work. It’s not enough to throw a bunch of information out there and hope that students can put the pieces together, especially when one-on-one interaction is limited. Both in person and online, it is necessary to give clearly defined steps, as well as present material in a compelling manner, visually and otherwise.

Fortunately, the summer gave me a breather to rethink my ground plan. I wanted to retain the “cool” factor in the Project Violin videos, even though some content would be changing. However, I decided to scale back some of the high-concept website plans, and focus on putting up some quality content with a simpler website structure that would make things easy to navigate.

I plan to have some trial material up by the end of the summer. It’s an exciting project with a long road ahead of it, and I can’t wait to see where it ends up!

Contributed by: Wayne Shen

Euphonium on the Rocks

We eagerly followed the events of Make Music New York here at EM. Hoping to take in a bit of the excitement from rainy Boston, we scanned droves of articles, photos and videos documenting MMNY. Anastasia Tsioulcas’ NPR Classical review brought the most delightful surprise. Clicking through the accompanying photo album, we spotted EM grant recipient Jason Belcher hiding behind his Euphonium, in the shrubs of Central Park.

So, we asked Jason to blog about his experience at MMNY, and he agreed. His takeaway warms our chilly New England hearts: “I think as long as we talk to people we don’t know, and maintain connections with them, we can find a way to live anywhere we want.”

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Last week, I went down to NYC to participate in SWELTER, a site-specific work created for Make Music New York by the artists Super Critical Mass, and TILT Brass Band.

Make Music New York is an annual event where public spaces (not all of which are regularly used for performances) are opened up for scheduled daytime music events. New York has an incredibly diverse musical population, and there are hundreds of performances there on any regular day. But, it’s not every day that you can walk down Wall Street and find an upright piano on the corner, or be surrounded by a brass band in the Central Park Boat Lake. MMNY allows for things that wouldn’t be possible most of the time.

TILT Brass is an experimental ensemble based in Brooklyn. I first learned of them through Anthony Coleman, one of my teachers who wrote a piece for the ensemble in 2005. I discovered the piece (Set Into Motion) in 2008, and asked Anthony if we could play it here in Boston.

We did, and I’ve been keeping an eye on TILT since then. I love that there is a brass band that’s dedicated exclusively to new/experimental music, and when I saw “Open Call for Brass Players” on their website, I jumped at the chance to participate in whatever it was that they were going to do. 

They held a rehearsal the day before the performance at the Park Avenue Armory - a large space on the East Side of Manhattan that spans the block between 66th and 67th streets. It has a high ceiling, and is a cavernous space with huge resonance. It took about two hours of trial for the three-person team that is Super Critical Mass to come up with a sequence of events that would work for the performance. Their process was really interesting, and there was a constant dialogue between them and the performers. The result was a series of additive and/or subtractive sequences that we moved through while in groups of 3 or 4 scattered around the lake.

When we got to the lake the next day, we were shown our positions, and did a quick soundcheck. There were two performances, one at 3:30PM, and another at 5:00PM. We started the first performance a bit late (after waiting for the New York Times to get their boat), and made a few adjustments for the second show. The group I was in moved from the western side of the lake (about two feet from the water!), to a platform a bit to the north. We could hear everything better, project better, and were able to stand on flat ground. There was a group of horn players on these big rocks, which seemed really cool, but slightly scary (to me, at least)! It was interesting to have to deal with some natural obstacles that aren’t an issue in most venues.

My favorite thing about this whole experience was that I initially didn’t know anyone I was playing with. This was a great chance to meet some potential collaborators, and I was not disappointed. As a student, Boston is an incredible place to live. The population is constantly shifting here. That’s a good thing to an extent, but many folks I know have graduated, and since moved to a place with a built-in population of people they can work with for a long time. Most people I know or have met in NY don’t plan on leaving anytime soon.The idea of moving there has always been a little daunting to me, but makes more sense every time I visit. I think as long as we talk to people we don’t know, and maintain connections with them, we can find a way to live anywhere we want. 

There are several pictures of the MMNY event on NPR’s webpage, the NY Times site, and Facebook. High Quality Videos will be showing up soon.  

Contributed by: Jason Belcher  

Project 231

It’s settled, the end of year chat will be a mainstay in the fall, only with a better title: Project 231. On Monday, twenty students gathered in SB231, a space aptly described by Leah Hennessy as a ‘kind-of-sweet room with plants’ to throw out ideas, questions and concerns about making a life in music. Highlights included: discovery of plush leather executive chairs, ample snacking, and a lively Q&A session with Tanya Kalmanovitch at the helm.

We touched on the process of transitioning to a new city, the work of building a professional network and community, the task of promoting your work online, the peaks and valleys of a freelance career, and more. We also dedicated some time to imagining what Project 231 might look like come September. All were agreed—there should be more opportunities for student led analytical discussion, preferably around a table (with snacks).  The initial vision is this: monthly sessions, facilitated by students, that focus on the ‘why’ and a bit of the ‘how-to’ of making your music live in the world.

The call is out: we’re building a core group to carry this project forward. If you’re interested in helping shape Project 231, we’d love to trade a few emails with you this summer and work together in the fall. That said, we’re committed to picking up new people as we go along—if you’re not interested in taking an active role in the planning, we hope you’ll join us for a session, or two, or more. Visit us on Facebook to stay in the loop.

Wishing all current and future Project 231’ers a restful summer!

Sunrise, Sunset—A Parting Letter to Students

This parting letter was composed for students in Tanya Kalmanovitch’s section of The Entrepreneurial Musician course.  TEM is a survey of important professional skills and resources as well as a space for students to consider what they want the fabric of their work life to be. This letter captures some of the principles that we hope students will take away as they continue their studies and begin to lay the foundation for a life in music.

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May, 2011

Sunrise, sunset—it’s the end of the year and we’re feeling all reflective. Last week in the Entrepreneurial Musician class we spent a little more time talking about the M-word. No, not music, money.  Well, money as it relates to music.  A few particularly pensive students lingered after class—they wanted answers. How do we make a life in music work? Give it to us straight! In response, we put our heads together and set out a few guiding principles that we’ve found especially helpful in our own paths.

1. The fate of your career is not determined by what happens in the first few years out of school. Think about your career as a long, fluid succession of twists and turns. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Too many people judge themselves prematurely: you tell yourself that if you haven’t accomplished X by Y date, it’s never going to happen. Not true.  F@*$ Y date.

2. You can only get so far by depriving yourself of lattes.  What do we mean by that? That living cheaply is not the whole answer to weathering the first few years out of school.  Sure, you want to live within your means, and you may not have a huge flow of money coming your way, but the point is, there are two sides to the equation: expenditures and income. If you can’t cut back any further without turning into a cheerless miser, then you might want to think about earning more instead of spending less. You’re thinking it’s impossible, aren’t you? It’s all how you look at it. Sometimes it’s easier to earn an extra $400 a month than it is to save the same amount by cutting back. Check out Ramit Sethi’s recent post in the New York Times Bucks blog for more on this idea, and check out Ramit’s own web site for a host of ideas on how to earn $1000 a month on the side.

3. Your first years out of school are a time for investing in yourself. You will be building capital in the form of professional networks, experience, extended training, reputation, and a body of personal work. You might not be building a lot of financial capital, but the creative capital you build during this time builds a strong foundation for the rest of your career. Don’t underestimate the value of creative capital. (Meanwhile, healthy financial habits keep your head above water.)

4. Now it’s time to debunk an unproductive myth about musical careers. Who says the only honorable way to make a living as a musician is with an instrument in your hand? (No, really, who said that?  We want to know where he or she lives.)  We are all multifaceted people.  We all know how to do many different things.  There is more to us than music.  If your career is taking you in a direction where you’re making a comfortable living playing the music you want to play, more power to you.  But if that’s not happening, there are many reasons why this might be, very few of which have anything to do with your quality as an artist, let alone as a person.  Maybe the music you want to make has a smaller audience. (If so, that doesn’t make your music any less vital. We say it makes it all the more vital!)  Maybe your career path has a slower rise (opera singers, that’s you, but it’s also any artist whose creative development takes place over a lifetime, and we’re not talking in dog years, here).  Maybe you’ve sampled all your available options for musical employment, and find that none of them are the right fit.  So, if a “traditional” musical career is not happening right out of the gate, carve your own path. Keep going. See point number 1.

4(a). And don’t think of non-musical employment as purgatory.  You may find that a “day job” can ignite you and be an asset to your work as an artist.  Maybe you find you actually enjoy the stimulation of doing something different.  Maybe the connections you build and the money you make allow you to do artistic work that otherwise would have been impossible.

4(b). One more thing. You’re not an evil person if financial stability is important to you.  No one said you can’t be a great musician AND have a stable income.   

5. In most cases, no one decision you make will irrevocably change the course your life.  We make a lot of little decisions every day that push us forward, or move us back.  Check in with yourself often, and adjust as you go along.  This is all to say, if you make a career move that sends you down a path you find undesirable, don’t despair.  Change it up.  Examine the fabric of your daily work life and figure out what it is that makes you feel rewarded.  And if something feels like it’s sucking your soul, figure out what that is, too.  Building a happy professional life is all about steering yourself away from the soul sucking and into the green and pleasant meadows of the rewarding.  It may not happen overnight, but if you are self-reflective — and actually do something about your self-reflections — then it will happen in time.

6. Speaking of doing something… Be prepared to work harder than you think you have to. Be prepared to do things you don’t initially want to do.  Be prepared to invest steeply in yourself.  If you believe a life in music is worth having, then it’s worth the hard work.  Luckily, you all know about hard work already. You do it every day in the practice room, in class and on stage.  Now, you’ve just got to extend your work ethic to other activities. For example, booking and promoting your shows, maintaining an online presence, taking auditions, managing a teaching studio, etc. These activities may at times make you feel disconnected from the passion that led you down the path of a musical career.  But it’s all interrelated, and it’s all part of the project of making a life in music.  We know there are only 24 hours in a day, but small consistent efforts over time (see point number 1) pay off handsomely.  Every time.  Promise.

7. Congratulations, you’re in control.  When you’re in school, it can feel like everyone’s telling you what you can and cannot do.  Out of school, suddenly, you’re the one who’s steering the ship.  There is a lot of freedom and possibility that come with this new stage.  There is also some aimlessness, and you shouldn’t be too down on yourself if you lose your bearings for a while.  That’s what the wandering twenties are for, friends. It’s all about trying things out and crossing things off the list. See also point number 1.

8. Don’t obsessively compare yourself to others.  It’s a drag, and mostly, you’re just projecting your own imaginings onto another person’s reality.  Their life might be awesome, or it might be really dark and hollow.  The world will never know.  

9. The main strategy for advancing yourself as an artist is: work, refine, develop, repeat.  It never ends.  This is good news.  You will always have something productive and meaningful to do with your life, and it rests entirely in your hands.  Your music will be one constant, stable element in your life; an anchor when other areas get murky.  Most people don’t have this: they just have TV.

10. Don’t suffer alone.  If you’re questioning your path or feeling unsettled, talk to someone about it. Talk to us about it.  Believe me, you’re not the only one who questions yourself or feels unsettled.  We all do, and it is utterly liberating to realize that most people feel a little insecure and ponderous as they face change.  There are also many resources at your disposal.  Don’t be a hero. Take advantage of people and information that can help you get over life’s little humps.  First stop: EM department, SB106. If nothing else, we usually have baked goods in the office.

Now, we have to thank you. Yes, you. These life and career negotiations never really stop cropping up. They may shift slightly with each decade of life, but they are there, like little sneaks, waiting for you just around the next corner. When we guide students through the process of career visioning and planning, we engage in the same process, too.  We’re asking ourselves all the same difficult questions and learning from your answers. 50 minutes, once a week, just isn’t enough time to wrangle these topics. At the end of each class we feel that so much is left unsaid. That’s why we’ve written this to you.

We like to talk — and write — but we also like productive outcomes.  So what are the productive outcomes of this piece?  Well, one, it was pretty cathartic to write. Two, we hope you laughed a little, and saw your experience reflected in some small way.  But most important is three: we’d like to carve out some space for these conversations to happen more often. What we’re proposing is this: bi-monthly dish sessions.  Good company, good snacks, and straight-up conversation about the future of music—your future in music.  We’ll run these every two weeks starting in the fall, but first up is Monday, May 16 at 5PM in SB106. Spread the word, drop us a line to let us know you’re coming, and send us your inspired suggestions for snacks.

Wishing you a restorative summer, with lots of fresh tomatoes and slightly tanner skin (apply sunscreen regularly).

—Tanya & Eva

Contributed by: Tanya Kalmanovitch, Assistant Chair of the Contemporary Improvisation Department and Eva Heinstein, Program Manager of Entrepreneurial Musicianship

DIY Improvisation

The grant cycle continues—in two weeks a new batch of NEC entrepreneurs will have money in their hands and projects to launch. But first, here’s a glimpse of what is taking shape for Peter Negroponte, leader of the Improvisers Anonymous Series (spring 2011 EM grant). We’re excited to share his most recent success in this crisp little post. Look out for more from IAS in September—they’re taking root at the Piano Factory and carving out a new space for avant-garde and experimental music in Boston.

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IAS concert #1 went extremely well. Not only was the music fantastic, but the show was well attended with over 50 audience members. Jules Vasylenko, with whom I co-organized the event, said that it was the most successful production at the Piano Factory that he had seen at the space since 2008. The performances included NEC students and alumni, as well as some of Boston’s most important improvisers and DIY event organizers.

Due to the mix of performers, internet advertising through Facebook, and an awesome poster made by Mass Art student Amy Mills, the show attendance was mixed with personal friends and acquaintances as well as people that I had never met. If all goes well, I plan to host another show at the Piano Factory in September. Creating and encouraging a community that welcomes various experimental and avant-garde forms of music is an ultimate life-time goal that involves small steps. I feel as IAS is a small step towards what I hope to see in future: A scene that accepts forward thinking music, whether traditionally trained or untrained, avant-garde or experimental - with a communal understanding of creative art making with intent and meaning (or an intentional lack thereof). 

The Cure is Art

Liz Erenberg, ever the writer, has crafted a grant post that is part story, part update. I think her experience is one that will resonate with many young musicians who are looking for ways to transmit the relevancy of their art to audiences old and new. In this post, Liz reminds us that, “the cure for insecurity about art is art itself.” Well put.

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A college grad trying to navigate the quarter life crisis gains no realer “life experience” than waiting tables.   Amongst all the struggling artists in aprons – writers, actors, musicians, and combination thereof (like me for example, scribbling angry poetry about bad customers during my two minute breaks while wanting desperately to just go practice my flute), the lead bartender in the restaurant recently received her master’s degree in vocal performance from a place called the New England Conservatory.  When I found out, I leaped for joy.
    “Oh my!” I exclaimed flinging the loose change (1% tip) from the pocket of my apron as I jumped.  “I just auditioned there last week!  Do you still sing?”
    “Nope,” she said, and then turned away from me back towards the shelf of alcohol.  
    That was the end of that conversation.  Even though I could have questioned her further, part of me didn’t want to know any more.

After starting my master’s degree at NEC, I often thought back to her.  The awe I felt at being there was mixed with at times a difficult sense of realism.  At NEC there are some of the greatest artists in the world, but most of them rose to their highest potential when times were “normal.”  Now, there is no normal, not even for the most lucrative of careers.  Who is a role model for “making it” in these times?  Why am I putting so much of myself into a field that is crumbling?  Will my feelings become similar to that bartender’s?

With classical music institutions folding all over the place, it is hard not to feel somewhat discouraged.  However, looking at the problem like a onion going into a signature restaurant dish, the economic crisis is only the outside layer.  When you look beneath that, there are clearly more layers, the innermost one being the art itself losing relevancy in the minds of present day audiences.  How can we keep classical music alive when our audiences are diminishing because they are not engaged? 

I was recently in Tony Woodcock’s office for my first meeting with him as my advisor for my grant project, a concert that combines music and literature through Greek Mythology.  I knew I wanted poetry based on the myths to be read aloud alongside the music, and incorporate other aspects such as visual art and lighting.  I knew I wanted to engage students in elementary through high school, specifically those learning about Greek history.

What I was missing though was a how to make these artistic aspects come together with the business ones.  How do I plug something that people might not believe is worthwhile, or to put it bluntly, lucrative?  He asked me from the perspective of a potential venue why this is important.  I said because it is presenting each art form, literature and music, and presents them each in a way that makes them stronger together than they would be separately, and in the process, gives classical music more integrity.  Music and language are interrelated, he said, but based on our dreams, where we are most creative and most at ease.  So in order to make the entrepreneurial and the artistic aspects come together, I basically need to look into the minds of my audience and serve them what they want.

Before, this concert was just an idea that I thought would be fun, but because I now fully believe in why it is relevant, I have the confidence to move forward and achieve the ambitious goals that come along with it.  I am grateful to this department for allowing me the opportunity not only to finally make this idea a reality, but also to realize that the cure for insecurity about art is art itself.