I came into arts management and community engagement from a background in ethnomusicology (the academic study of how people use music to make meaning and sense of the world), so I approach the entire project as a type of community-engaged public anthropology of music. This means that I listen to artists and audience members from the university community and broader region. I listen to public school music teachers who want their young learners inspired. I listen to people who complain about feeling excluded by various barriers to participation. I listen to multiple points of view, synthesizing data points that often seem to contradict each other. Then, I gather input from my team, from mentors, colleagues…and I act, with the hope that my actions will bring high-quality, life-impacting arts opportunities to as many people as possible.

The flagship performance series of the university, Cornell Concert Series has been hosting musicians and ensembles of international stature since 1903. We present great traditions from across the world, ranging from Western classical to jazz to Indian to taiko to American roots.

See more at www.cornellconcertseries.com

In managing the Cornell Concert Series, I have been responsible for programming choices, finances, and public education and outreach. In the past 5 years, we have had over 20,000 ticket holders at our concerts. As a dedicated educator, I have pushed us to be more creative in reaching our to students and to win more grant funding in order to develop more robust engagement opportunities for more than 2,500 students and community members having in-person interactions with our artists. Other highlights of my work in this role have included:

• Raising season attendance by 25% and increasing participation in community engagement opportunities by 50%

• Collaborating with administrators, faculty, board, and other stakeholders to develop and implement strategic vision, showcasing the 120-year-old Concert Series as a regional arts leader and garnering a $2 million endowment from the Dallas Morse Coors Foundation.

• Engaging in active listening to partner with local schools and educational non-profits, increasing K-12 student participation by 75%

• Executing contract negotiation and artist selection quality goals despite university fiscal contribution decreases of 10%, (a 32% decrease accounting for inflation).

• Leading development of persuasive marketing materials communicating the value of the series. In my first 5 years, our social media following grew by 1000%

• Winning both internal and external grant funding (over $100k in the last 5 years)

• Building and leading a team of 5 faculty on an internal Engaged Curriculum grant that built curricular connections and community outreach to 100+ local school students around Concert Series performances.

• Administrating a multi-year musical mentorship program pairing 20 Cornell undergraduate string players with 20 local elementary school orchestra students for musical instruction.

• Developing partnerships with local public services (ex. bus system, library network, after school programs) to reduce barriers for community participation in Concert Series performances and engagement activities.

• Giving constructive supervision to a team 20+ volunteers, staff and student workers.