On the agenda at a recent Board of Overseers' meeting at the Curtis Institute of Music were past graduates, some with non-traditional careers both in music and not, speaking about the preparation their Curtis education provided them. The backdrop to the conversation was a speech the previous afternoon by Derek Bok, who advocated for the importance of liberal education beyond music as an essential component of an artist's preparation.  The context for the entire discussion was the current state of the classical music field and the idea that … [Read more...]

The Station Resource Group and Walrus Research, with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, published a report in June on the Performance of Classical Music Stations.   The report is part of a larger effort at the Station Resource Group to advance thinking around what it would take to expand audiences for public radio stations of all types.  Organized under the project name Grow The Audience, this multi-year effort has convened station leaders, studied high-performing stations, commissioned research, and published provocations … [Read more...]

In a recent book and several articles (Huffington Post, Strategy+Business, Forbes, others - just Google "Spend Shift"), John Gerzema and Michael D'Antonio describe a new breed of consumers they've named "Spend Shifts."   The co-authors say that the Spend Shift movement began before the Great Recession and consists of a large, diverse demographic group who "realize that how they spend money is a form of power, and are moving from mindless consumption to mindful consumption, increasingly taking care to purchase goods and services from sellers … [Read more...]

At the Salzburg Global Seminar I wrote about in my most recent post we were fortunate to have a number of leading music educators from around the world as participants.  Among them was Duffie Adelson, President of Chicago's Merit School of Music, who spoke to us about that impressive school's philosophy and results.  In her talk she hit a nerve with me by saying that we in the arts need to "celebrate rigor" and that "being held to a high standard is the highest possible compliment" you can pay someone.  Merit's mission statement is overt … [Read more...]

Last week I had the honor of serving as Co-Chair, with Nicholas Kenyon, of a session at the Salzburg Global Seminar titled, "Instrumental Value: The Transformative Power of Music."  Nearly 60 people from 23 countries traveled to Salzburg where we met for four days to discuss the ways that music contributes to individuals, societies and cultures.  Participants were musicians, composers, presenters, music educators, policymakers, funders and patrons, neuroscientists, and others who've spent a lifetime in the music field.  Lively discussions … [Read more...]