Professional Experience
The Tuxedo Revolt
Founder, Writer, Consultant, 2010-present
a. Consulting with arts organizations and individuals.
· Organizational Consulting:
1) Designed creative solutions to complex system problems in performing arts organizations.
2) Helped organizations cultivate staffs’ creative potential and resiliency.
3) Collaborated with organizations’ leadership to implement effective audience engagement strategies.
4) Plan sustainable programming by fostering community partnerships.
5) Assisted arts organizations place social and cultural relevance at the center of all organizational activity.
· Individual Consulting:
1) Helped individuals develop effective personal brands through strategic use of social media.
2) Assisted clients in developing a strong sense of personal entrepreneurship when looking for new opportunities in unlikely places.
3) Served as a guest career counselor at the Chamber Music America National Convention, 2013, 2014, 2016, and 2017.
b. Writing: In September 2012, I launched the Tuxedo Revolt Blog; the blog is a forum for new ideas and encourages arts organizations to be innovative and bold in their creative work; the Tuxedo Revolt Blog has grown to over 12,000 views in 66 countries worldwide with over 450 regular subscribers through various social media outlets; the Tuxedo Revolt Blog was also featured on Wordpress.com’s Freshly Pressed.
UMass Lowell String Project
Director, 2013-present (Lowell, MA)
a) Program Administration:
· Led the organization to win the 2014 National String Project of the Year award, granted by the National String Project Consortium and the American String Teacher’s Association.
· Envisioned and executed new organizational brand.
· Developed new mission and vision statements that blend the String Project’s artistic and education goals with new initiatives for community engagement, social entrepreneurship and cultural ambassadorship.
· Liaised with collaborators, community partners, and constituents to collect information to be used in programmatic marketing initiatives.
· Designed a new web presence and updated online communications with constituents aiming for easier and increased communication.
· Reinvigorated the UMLSP Advisory Board and recruited new board members.
a) Program Operations:
· Present 2 annual Winter/Spring Showcase Concerts attended by over 900 people each year in the Merrimack Valley.
· Presented UMLSP recruitment concerts and educational workshops for 1,000 public school students in 12 elementary schools in the Lowell Public School District.
· Partnered with the Boston Symphony Orchestra Community Chamber Concerts department to bring BSO musicians to campus to work with String Project students.
· Presented“You Gotta Love the Life: An Evening with Melissa Manchester” in which String Project students performed with Grammy Award winning artist Melissa Manchester and a local public school children’s chorus.
· Manage student staff of 15 student teaching artists, 5 administrative aids and 1 master teacher.
· Produced a full-length documentary film, “We’ve Got the World on a String.”
a) Program Dissemination:
· Led successful institutional marketing campaigns that added social media marketing to traditional program recruiting techniques (i.e. through public school teachers and other community music organizations) that have doubled enrollment from the ending enrollment of FY12.
· Promoted String Project events in regional print and e-publications such as the Boston Globe, Lowell Sun, and Eagle-Tribune.
Collage: UMass Lowell String Project Students, Teaching Artists, Staff Members, and other UMass Lowell Music students. 2015 Winter Showcase and 2016 Spring Showcase photos courtesy of Tory Germann Photography and 2015-16 Promotional photos courtesy of Greg Mahan Photography.
The Little Orchestra Society
Director of Education, 2011 (New York, NY)
a. Program Administration
· Restructured and implemented a new digital presence for LOS education programs.
· Collaborated with guest artists and teaching artists for special programming.
· Partnered with NYC public school administrators and educators to plan attendance of over 1,500 students at LOS concerts hosted at David Geffen Hall.
· Determined program goals, strategic plan, and teaching models implemented in programs impacting over 3,000 students, parents, and teachers.
· Served as the principal administrator for education division finances, annual budget.
· Planned and held many special events and private donor experiences with organizations such as Lincoln Center Institute and VH1 Save the Music Foundation.
Presentations
Why Don't They Show Up? Entrepreneurship Strategies for Modern Musicians, featured panelist, Chamber Music America Conference, 2013
Developing Your Personal Brand, keynote speaker, Mannes College of Music, 2013
The HeART of the Matter: Arts Entrepreneurship in the Undergraduate Curriculum, presenter, Deshpande Foundation Symposium on Entrepreneurship in Higher Education, 2015
“A River Runs Through It: Creative Economy in the Merrimack Valley”, keynote speaker, Greater Lowell Community Foundation, 2015
“Community Engagement and Creative Partnerships”, 2016 IMPACT Conference, New York University 2016
"Innovative Best Practices: A Roundtable Discussion", American String Teachers Association National Conference 2017
Associations
• Network of Music Career Development Officers, 2010-Present
• National String Project Consortium, Secretary Treasurer, Executive Board 2013-Present
• American String Teachers Association, 2013-Present
• National Association for Music Education, Massachusetts Chapter
Honors & Awards
• UMass Lowell DifferenceMaker®, Entrepreneurship Faculty Fellow for College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, 2014-Present
• UMass Lowell Chancellor’s Pillar of Excellence Award Nominee 2016
UMass Lowell String Project, image courtesy of Tory Germann Photography