I've been working in the field of Arts Integration and Audience Development since 1997. That's the official start I will claim; marked by a position with the former Performing Arts Council of Toledo. I was hired to direct The Muse Machine program for a 22 county-wide area of northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan.
Before then, I had touch points in Arts Integration as a performer with Young Audiences of America while a doctoral student of bassoon performance at the Eastman School of Music. Through the experience of performing in a woodwind quintet for elementary students, I came to understand that my training wasn't really preparing me for the work that needed to happen "off" the bassoon. The degree program was rigorous and glorious. So much repertoire, so many memorable moments on stage with fabulous conductors and other musicians.... The culture wars of the mid-1990s was heating up in congress. Audiences were graying. The 1983 report, A Nation at Risk was being interpreted to mean more focus on math and science in school or the Japanese will be taking over our economy. Education reform was challenging the arts in schools. Young Audiences intended to provide quality arts experiences in schools and build new audiences. It was rewarding work, but something was missing for me as an artist. I realized that performing for these special audiences meant I needed a better methods to connect with them; not just in the music, but in how I talked about it.
My career aspiration was to find an orchestra position paired with a studio in a university. I was two semesters away from finishing a doctorate. I had one recital left and the doctoral comprehensive exams. I was preparing for a rehearsal with the RPO when all around me I was hearing concerns from my fellow musicians about how the public just doesn't get us. Were they crazy? Did they not see the beautiful theatre we were in? Did they not know the mecca stage we were sharing with a history of legends before us? How could they not be in awe of the opportunity we had to make magic? Guilting the audience into liking orchestral music might not be the best course of audience development action. I immediately knew I had to do something to bridge the new audiences to the music I adored.
I was lucky enough to have an academic advisor who saw administrative chops in my questions; and my resistance to prescribed curriculum. I didn't see the value in an entire semester spent on studying Bach's music during his Leipzig period when I needed to understand why our community wasn't supporting the local orchestra. Through his design, I was able to be a guinea pig for what is now the Filene Arts Management program at Eastman. I took his seminars on organizations structure, when to a few symposiums in New York city presented by the American Symphony Orchestra League, pushed and got the first student internship at the Rochester Philharmonic. Then I hit my first professional crossroads.
I didn't want to be a studio musician, or a tenure track professor with an orchestral gig. I wanted to put my energy into building the audience.
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As a musician, I was trained in breaking down the musical challenges of a score; critically analyzing the performance to find problem spots and discover ways to smooth fingering technique, take the right amount of cane off a reed, and how to interpret phrasing based on theories of performance practice. Fixing musical challenges came down to intonation, tempo, balance and style. The performance was only as good as the weakest player. We learned to identify weak spots and figure out how to improve them. Improvement was addressed in a small closet with a metronome and a tuner. I had to solve my own problems.
This sensibility informs my work now, but working out solutions doesn't happen in a practice room. It comes through observation, finding models of excellence that inspire action. A breadth of different educational settings, meeting educators of all levels and degree, a complex society with ever- changing policies, traditions and practice - and a new field of work: audience development.
In the past 20 or so years, I've been working in both arts integration and audience development. I'm now at a university that is not a conservatory or music, or a drama school, or a noted for a fine arts school. It has incredibly fabulous faculty in all of the arts disciplines and I'm darned lucky to support their teaching and research. Most students who major in the arts combine the arts based major with a second major (engineering, business or other humanities). Other students who participate in the arts are involved in performance opportunities through university supported ensembles, or through co-curricular activities. The "arts" are not a particularly strong signature in the institutional brand. Yet.
I was hired by the university to direct and arts integration program. While the program was discontinued after seven years, I'm still at the university. Still working on raising the visibility of the arts on our campus. Still celebrating the artistic achievements of students and faculty. Still supporting the arts in the community that shares the university zip code. Still practicing what I preach: art is a way of learning and life.
I hope to focus more of these thoughts and wonderings on the blog in 2015. I hope it sparks discussion, but not about me. Let's explore the work that supports creative development in each student, faculty and staff member on campus, as well as our neighbors in the community.
It's time to retool...
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