Artful Conversation 2020 MacEwan University and Rozsa Foundation Students
Welcome to Artful Conversations - a podcast about arts and cultural management. Hosts Annetta Latham and Katrina Ingram, interview leaders who help shape the world of arts and culture. We share their stories, their insights and observations. This podcast season has been brought to you with the support of MacEwan University and The Rozsa Foundation.
Welcome to Artful Conversations, I'm your host, Katrina Ingram. I'm joined today by four emerging arts managers who have participated in arts management education programs at the Rosza Foundation or MacEwan University. Sue-Shane Tsomondo and Meghan Goguen are alumni of the Rosza Foundation program. Sue-Shane is a YYC based poet, writer and founder of Sue’s Stokvel, an online book club. Meghan is currently working as a general manager at Luminous Voices. We also have with us today Jenna Kerekes and Tania Gigliotti from the MacEwan University Arts and Cultural Management Program. Jenna is currently in her second year of the program and Tania is graduating this year. Tania has worked in the arts for nearly 20 years and has recently launched Drawn to Books and not for profit that helps children discover and create comics. Sue-Shane, Meghan, Jenna and Tania, welcome to the podcast.
KATRINA: So I'm going to ask you to tell us a little bit about how you first became aware of arts management as a career choice, and what were the factors that led you to pursue your formal education in arts administration? And, Meghan, I'm going to start with you.
MEGHAN: So it's interesting, I think that I was actually about three arts admin jobs in before I realized that I was being an arts administrator, so I actually did my undergrad and masters in vocal performance with a dream of singing opera and just based on some connections that I had through my family in Calgary. I met the executive director of Prairie Debut, who is also the general manager for Land's End Ensemble, and that was my first foray into arts administration. And after two years of working in the field, me and Po Yeh, who is the executive director of Prairie Debut, decided that it was time to really formalize a few of my skills and increase my knowledge and find a way for me to be more efficient at my job and look for further growth in my career.
KATRINA: Amazing and Sue-Shane, what's your story?
SUE-SHANE: So I actually never really considered arts management a career choice, I've done event management, a lot of event management, and last year when I started, I decided I wanted to go back into performing poetry. I got connected with other artists, and so I realized that there was a really budding creative community in Calgary that I could be a part of and that I could actually do it in a full time capacity. So at the beginning of the year, I went for the Rosza Admin Fundamentals Training Program because I was working as part of an arts management company called KLS. And it just was helping me put things into context, just get some basic knowledge on what the industry looked like, things like grant applications there. So much that has little to do with passion and more about just like the logic of things, the technicality of things that I needed to kind of grasp.
KATRINA: Wonderful and Jenna. How about yourself? How did you first become aware of arts management as a career choice? And what led you to pursue a more formal education in the arts?
JENNA: Yeah, well I think, like I don't know, since I was a little I've always been in theater arts and musical theater and things like that, and I've always loved that. So I think I always knew I wanted to be somewhere in the arts, but I just didn't know where. And then when it came time for university, I was talking to some of my former theater instructors and I was telling them I had no idea what I wanted to do. And I knew I didn't want to go into that performing arts or anything because I didn't want to suck the fun out of it for me, because I felt doing it as a school might not be as fun. So they said to do MacEwan's Arts and Cultural Management Program because they're like that’d be a perfect fit for you because you can be in the arts but still learn behind the scenes. And that's kind of what drew me to it.
KATRINA: Great. And Tania, how about yourself?
TANIA: I am kind of like Sue-Shane, I had been, and Meg and I had been, sort of working in arts administration and arts management for a while without really knowing that that's what it was. And then I and it had been in culturally specific dance schools and in books and in literature. And so all of it sort of for-profit entities. And I eventually ran into some friends who had been through the MacEwan program. And I started to think this should be interesting. And this looks really interesting to me. And as I am a more mature student theoretically, and the whole, oh, I might be retiring at some point in my life. And, hey, I'd like to have a job that it's not just me volunteering for the arts. It may actually be me doing meaningful work that was valued. And I hate to be so, but valued in a monetary sense on a little bit more at a higher scale. I decided that I would go into this program and started it in I guess twenty eighteen and finished it now. Yeah.
KATRINA: Wonderful. Well money is important, let's not beat around the bush on that. Absolutely. I want to talk a bit more about the two programs that you have all participated in, those being the Rosza Foundation program, as well as the MacEwan Arts and Cultural Management Program. And we'll start with the Rosza program. And I'm going to start with Sue-Shane, who's already mentioned a little bit of what you've learned in the program, but Sue-Shane. Perhaps you could just expand on that a little bit more and just tell us a bit more about the program that you participated in and some of the things that you learned in the program.
SUE-SHANE: So I participated in the Rosza Admin Fundamentals training program, and it's called Raft, and it was pretty informative. I think there's so much information that's out there. And sometimes if you don't have the connections and the network, it's really hard to find that information. How to write a grant, like I said, was one of the biggest challenges for me. Just thinking about doing that was very overwhelming before I participated in the program. So I really enjoyed that aspect of it.
KATRINA: Wonderful and Meghan you also participated in the Rosza program, can you tell us about your experiences?
MEGHAN: So I participated in the Rosza Arts Management Program, so Ramp and it was every three weeks we would get together on a Thursday for a different lengths of sessions and we would have guest speakers come in. So we learned everything from finance and talking balance sheets and financial statements. And we also had people come in to talk about workplace dynamics, and if you aren't getting exactly what you need from your team, how can you start a conversation or kind of change the culture in your organization, and it all culminated with a project. So this was, it could be anything from solving an inventory problem. One of my favorite stories is one of the organizations that had a bunch of missing Kit Kats, and I still want to know where they are. I really do. It's probably my favorite thing that came out of that program other than all the knowledge.
And I myself was able to put together a project where I designed a way for Prairie Debut to explore different kinds of venues because traditionally Prairie Debut tours classical music in traditional concert venues. So talking about maybe instead of the Jack Singer Concert Hall going to the Palomino. So it was just a fantastic program and really wonderful collaborative environment and energy with a bunch of other arts administrators who, surprisingly enough, in this small industry I had not yet met.
KATRINA: Fantastic. Well, now I'm wondering about the Kit Kats. Well, segway over to the Arts and Cultural Management Program. And Jenna, I'll just ask you if you can tell us a bit more about your experiences with that program.
JENNA: Yeah, I'm a second year student there and we've done so much. I've been a full time student for two years now and we've learned a lot about financing, budgeting, all the accounting stuff that goes into it. Also a lot of marketing like market research and audience surveys. Right now we're working with arts organizations in Edmonton to make an audience survey, which has been really awesome. We've also like there's been human resources and public publicity relations, which gave you a lot of information about how like to just do day to day work, which is really interesting. And I'm also doing a museum and gallery management program right now that teaches you a lot about the behind the scenes in a museum, which is so cool because I don't know, I've only ever been to a museum as a visitor. So it's really neat to learn about what the day to day looks like for them. So that's some of the stuff I've learned.
KATRINA: That does sound cool. I think most of us have probably only ever been to the museum as a visitor. So super cool to learn behind the scenes. And Tania, you're a recent grad, so reflecting back on the program, whether some of your highlights there were I mean.
TANIA: Just like Jenna mentioned, that we cover the whole gamut from accounting to marketing to project management. And then we do specific courses, I didn't take the ones in the music industry, but there are courses there. I did the music. I did the museum management class, which I found really fantastic as well. And I also did the performing performance management sort of theater management course as well. And I found that to be really good. I think for me, I may have been one of the only students to continue into doing more accounting. I took the accounting course and then actually opted to do another course. They had to give me special permission for it. So they seemed like very, you want to do what? You want to take more accounting. But I think it's one of those things where you really, you don't know until you're really working out there, how useful that accounting is and being able to organize that kind of thing in your head and on a computer, really, it's invaluable.
KATRINA: Yeah, that is interesting. And you probably are one of the few people I've ever talked to who says they wanted to do more accounting. OK, you would be OK with doing more accounting.
JENNA: I found it useful.
KATRINA: And I find that a little surprising. And that's actually the segway to my next question about what do you feel the most surprising thing is that you've learned in your program so far. If you haven't completed your program yet, maybe I'll stick with you on this note of element of surprise. What's been the most surprising thing that you learned in the program?
JENNA: Well, for me personally, I think that a big part of this actually had to do with the not for profit history of the arts in Canada, because I came from for profit arts books and dance schools are, for the most part, for profit entities. And it was for me actually very illuminating. But also and it's not that I didn't know that not for profit was a thing. It was just I did pretty much all of the courses that we took were very geared towards not for profit entities and how to run those. And so I found that really fascinating and also surprising to me, from coming from the background that I had in the arts.
KATRINA: And Jenna, how about yourself, what surprised you about the arts and cultural management program?
JENNA: I think like the planning of everything, I knew that obviously like for events and things like that, like there was planning that went into it. But I just never realized, like for a weekend festival that can be like a year long planning process, like, I just had no idea because, I mean, you have to recruit donors and recruit artists and do all of this stuff and connect with all your team. And it's just crazy, like the amount of work and the amount of people that go into it is just crazy to me.
KATRINA: It doesn't happen overnight, that's for sure. And Sue-Shane, you took the Raft program. And what surprised you about Raft?
SUE-SHANE: What surprised me about Raft was the different kinds of people who participated in it, because I just had my own idea of what Arts management looks like, and then you have people doing so many different things, their dance instructors, they're just people who are individual artists. And so seeing how they implemented different parts of that program to their own craft was really surprising to me and to see how we all sort of fit in together and how it applied to all of us differently, but similarly in certain ways as well.
KATRINA: Yeah. How to apply similar skills, but in different ways. Interesting. And Meghan, how about yourself with the Ramp program? What was surprising for you?
MEGHAN: Well, I think other than all of the work, like Jenna mentioned, that you have to put into all of these events and running a not for profit or an arts organization in general, it's quite similar to what Sue-Shane was saying. I was amazed by the diversity and the depth of Calgary's cultural scene. It was so impressive to me that I was sitting here and I work for multiple organizations, I represent a professional choir, I also work for Prairie Debut, the touring organization. And so between Luminous Voices and Prairie Debut, I've got a little sneak peek of one micro section of the community. And just like Sue-Shane was saying, there are dance troops, there are individual artists, and it's just an incredible community. And I think the connections that come out of it, too, are a little bit surprising where you realize there are a lot of people in this city that I need to be working with. We need to find a way to align our mottos and our missions and vision so that we can put together a concert or a gallery, plus musical events, all of those kinds of things.
KATRINA: Very cool. Well, I want to unpack this idea of theory and practice just a little bit. And in all of your programs, you've all learned new skills, you've learned theory and content, and then there is real life. There is going back into an organization, putting things into practice. So I want to ask a little bit about the experiences that you've had in being able to take the theory and apply it in practice. And perhaps you even have a real life example that you might want to share of being able to take either an aspect of your program or even the whole content of your program and apply it to a real life situation, whether that's in a work context or in a volunteer context. So I'm going to ask you to comment on that. And I think what they'll do is I'll start with Meghan.
MEGHAN: So I think one of the wonderful things that I enjoy about arts administration is the ability to connect with people, whether that's my choristers or it's my artistic director or it's our donors and patrons. And one of the things that we talked about was sponsorship. And one of the most important things that I think I realized about sponsorship is that stewardship is the way to maintain sponsorship and to increase sponsorship and donorship. So that's just taking care of the relationship that you have with your donors and sponsors. And one of the small things that we did in April is that we created a phone tree, me and my board, and we were able to get a list of our season subscribers as well as our donors and get everybody a phone call, just saying, hi, how are you? How is Covid treating you? Are you doing OK? I'm really sorry that we had to cancel April 10th concerts, but we just want to make sure that you're doing all right and we hope to be making music for you again soon. And the feedback from that and just honestly, the delight and the joy that I had in some of those conversations makes me remember that we're a community organization. And we wouldn't we wouldn't be around, we wouldn't exist for anyone or because of anyone if we didn't have that community.
KATRINA: That's a lovely story. I love that, Jenna. How about yourself? Do you have any stories about putting your theory into practice?
JENNA: I feel like I almost did it backwards because, like right now in one of our marketing classes, we're learning a lot about audience surveys and how to word surveys and coding and things like that. And over the summer, I worked as a research assistant for Heather Fitzsimmons Fray and we were doing a bunch of workshops with girls. And then after the workshops, we'd give them a questionnaire and we would work together on the questionnaire. And I feel like now learning all this stuff about questionnaires that I'm learning, it's like the questionnaire I made before is still good. But there's like so many things I learned now that I'm like, if I had known that before the survey, I would have been so much better. So I think I kind of did it a little bit backwards, but that definitely if I ever get the opportunity to do that again, like these skills that I'm learning right now will become in handy.
KATRINA: Oh, I'm sure you'll have the opportunity to do that a lot. And it's really I think we all have that experience of, oh, I wish I could do that differently or better. And there's always opportunities to build on that. Sue-Shane how about yourself, experiences in putting theory into practice?
SUE-SHANE: I think one of the biggest things for me was adapting, because Arts is such a dynamic, the art industry is so dynamic. And I remember the case study that we did in our raft program was about they had to change the way things were working in that particular organization. And, of course, having something that I've created myself, I have specific goals and visions for that thing. And I have my own idea about how it should be executed. And I have my own idea about how people should receive it and things like that. So I think that's really been a big learning curve to really just listen to what the people that you're doing it for are saying, very similar to Meghan as well in that sense. But just like really listening to how people are responding to different things and trying out different things, even if that's not necessarily how I intended to do it the first time, but also understanding that I have a goal to serve my community. And so there are ways in which I can change and just keep my pulse on like what is happening around the city. So I'm really just getting different perspectives so that you adapt well to the community that you're serving.
KATRINA: That was a really big thing for me, and that is such an important skill is really being able to listen well, as you say, connect with community and make sure whatever you're doing is working well for them. So thank you for sharing that. And Tania, how about you, putting theory into practice stories?
TANIA: Well, I foolishly decided in the midst of my diploma that I would start a non-profit. And so I've had plenty of opportunities to apply the theory, make huge mistakes. But also I wanted to comment on what Sue-Shane was saying about adaptability. And I think one of the things that they stress throughout the entire like throughout all of the courses was kind of that risk management and adaptability and to be able to let go of certain things. Certainly I started this Drawn to Books in twenty nineteen in the summer and it wasn't too long before the pandemic hit. And so having to let go of some of the ideas of where I thought this was going to go and figure out where it's going to go, at least for the next little while, I think that was made a lot easier by the fact that we discussed so much the, in all of the courses. OK, you might have to take a left turn. You might have to, Oh, now you're taking a right turn. So I think that was really useful. And I do think that the fact that we did all of these projects and things as groups a lot of the time, and that has really helped as well in terms of putting the theory into practice, of knowing, again, as Sue-Shane was saying, that you can't do this in a vacuum. You need to have, and Meghan as well. And you need to know what people are thinking. You need to know what your community is thinking. You need to know what your coworkers are thinking. Doing it in a vacuum is kind of it's where you're going to make the most mistakes if you think you can do it on your own.
KATRINA: Yeah, that's a fantastic point and a great segway into my next question, which is really about the value of community, the value of being supported in your career, and specifically the value of mentorship. And I'm wondering if you've had the opportunity to be mentored by someone in the field, or is there someone that you look to as a role model and I'd like to know a little bit more about that person and what that relationship has looked like for you. And so I'm going to start with you Sue-Shane and ask you about mentorship and what that has been like for you in your career.
SUE-SHANE: So I haven't had a formal mentor, but I definitely have people that I'm constantly watching to see what they're doing and how they're doing it and people who have a long history of working in the arts in Calgary. And for me, that has been, for example, for me, Femi Bode George, he runs Icarus Sound and they hosted a couple of outdoor parties during the summer last summer particularly, well because this year. But I definitely have looked to him to see what kind of community he's trying to foster and how he really gets the word out, gets people out to the parties, supply and demand, all these things that I think he's really good at marketing. And so he's been one of my role models, someone that I watch and also just Woezo Africa. They are a really great organization. And what they've done in terms of having an African cultural festival to me is just mind blowing. And so I'm also always watching them especially how they've adapted to everything that's happened with Covid. They just went digital. They still had a really successful festival with all of that, and so also that being a culture that I am connected to, it's very inspirational to see that is that kind of representation and potential for success for African art, African inspired art or art that's rooted in African culture and African experiences.
KATRINA: Wonderful. And Jenna, what about you? Do you have any stories of mentorship or are there people that you look to as role models?
JENNA: Yeah, like I haven't had a formal mentor either, but I've actually been working with Brianne Jang, I've worked with her a couple of times, I worked with her at the Fringe and I also am working with her right now with the Skirts A Fire audience survey. And it's just been such a great opportunity. And I think she's definitely a big role model for me just because she does so much in the arts community in Edmonton. She is a photographer for the collective and she is a manager at Skirts A Fire and she's part of a theater group called Poima Productions. And she just does so many different things. And I just aspire to have that many multifaceted skills and be that present. I think that's just so cool.
KATRINA: That is super cool. And how about yourself Meghan, regarding mentorship?
MEGHAN: Well, so the first person who directed me towards Arts Administration was Po yeh, who is still somebody that I am working with, and she has offered so much advice and assistance over the past three years, she has let me in on conversations that I don't need to be a part of to do my quote unquote job description, but that inform me as an arts administrator as to what goes on behind the scenes when you're working at a really high level and juggling presenters and artists and tour management. And she's also involved in advising luminous voices. And so it's been a really fun change for me to be working in an organization where I'm the general manager.
But she still knows the inner workings of the organization. So if I have a grant proposal, I could say, hey, Po, could you please look, it's over for me. And she has really wonderful advice. And so she has been absolutely instrumental into in building my confidence as an arts administrator and experience. And I've also done some mentorship with my former voice teacher, Elizabeth McDonald, and she's actually out of Toronto and she's created this new partnership called M Squared Connect, where they help performing artists discover their path, if you will, especially if it's not a traditional performing career. So she has been fabulous. And she's also such an incredible voice teacher that you feel like you can do anything in her studio.
KATRINA: And Tania, how about yourself, and mentorship?
TANIA: Wow, OK, I know I should be prepared for this question. I am. It's just there's been so many amazing people and there have been so many amazing people in my life. I would have to say that the two Middle Eastern dance studios that I taught for were used to be owned by Denise LeClaire. And then the other one was by Animal Maroota, and they were respectively, what I think are sometimes called panzers and planners. So Denise LeClaire was a fly by the seat of your pants. Come up with a brilliant idea. Let's just make it happen kind of person. And her marketing skills were beyond compare for that kind of thing. She was able to always make it happen. And Animoto was like, let's plan this to within an inch of its life and we will get it done like and it was so it was really interesting to see the strengths of both sides of that coin. So I really appreciate having had both of them as mentors. And then in the books field, I had the opportunity to work for Gail Greenwood and also for Greenwoods Bookshop when it was open. And also Jay Bardyla from Happy Harbour comics when he it was it has since been sold to somebody else.
But I would say Gail taught me about creating sustainable work environments where if you know that people are not going to be paid a huge amount, you know that it's going to be a lot of hard work in independent books. And she managed to make a lot of decisions that made it far more sustainable to be working there on the long term. And then Jay was definitely work ethic and community building. He's beyond compare with both of those things. And I yeah, sorry, I'm now gushing and I'm going to say
KATRINA: These people are gush worthy, they all sound amazing to me and will definitely you'll have to send them a copy of this podcast when it's released so they can hear all the really lovely things that you've said about them. Those are really nice stories of mentorship.
KATRINA: I'm going to move on and ask you all a bit of a double-barrelled question. So this is about the one thing that you wish you knew before you started in this career. And also, now that you're seasoned arts managers, if you have advice for future arts administrators entering these programs now that you've completed these programs, so double-barrelled question the one thing you wish you knew before starting and also what advice you have for future arts administrators. And Jenna, I'm going to start with you.
JENNA: Yeah, I don't really have a lot of experience yet, so I think definitely just doing this program, I think will definitely be something that I'll look back on and be like, good thing I did that because, I mean, I've heard a lot of you guys have stories and it sounds like you started and then you did the school afterwards. But I started with the school, so hopefully that'll kind of help. And I think the advice that I have for people coming into these programs is just to ask questions and be aware of the resources that you have, because there's, like all of the professors that you have are professionals in something and they're all like willing to help you and willing to share their experiences with you. And I feel like I don't know me anyways. I forget to ask them and forget to forget that they're professionals outside of just teaching. So I would say to like ask your professors any questions you have and ask them what their experience is because they're always willing to help.
KATRINA: Sounds great. And to Sue-Shane, how about yourself, the one thing you wish you knew and also your advice.
SUE-SHANE: I wish I knew that the art industry was so vibrant earlier because it really feels like I wasted a lot of time just doing things in my own personal space and there was so much time that was wasted not exploring it outside of that. I wish I really wish I had explored it earlier and my piece of advice would be to make connections, make a lot of connections, talk to people. I find it's talking to people that is really connected me to other people, connected me to opportunities and things like that. And so and just being around other creatives, it's really such a beautiful thing to just be surrounded by creatives. I feel like they motivate me to create more. And so that would be my greatest advice, to find a community of creatives that you just surround yourself with, bounce off ideas off each other and that sort of thing.
KATRINA: Great and Tania, I'll segway over to you in terms of the one thing that you wish you knew and the advice you have. The one thing I wish I knew, I'm not entirely sure, I think it's that it seems like programs are way more intensive than they used to be back in my day and that. And so it is an intensive program, I will say the MacEwan Arts and Culture Management program was intensive. And I think that that's also the thing that I'd like to sort of tell people going into it is that it's not as easy as you might think it is.
It's a lot more work intensive and to try to make decisions that are healthy for yourself, to not get too overwhelmed and too stressed out by the program itself, because like everybody is saying, there are other resources. There are other things to check out. There's always somebody to help talk to people, make sure that that you're being kind to yourself and making good decisions during all the intensity.
KATRINA: Jenna's nodding her head. She agrees that it's an intensive program. And Meghan, over to you for the one thing that you wish you knew. And also, what advice do you have having completed your program?
MEGHAN: I think one of the things that I really found as the ramp program was ramping up was that you I wish that I had gone in knowing a little bit more, having done a little bit more self discovery of why I do what I do, because we had one session in the New Year. So the program started in September and then we had a January session where we kind of explored what's your why, your personal why, for what you bring to these organizations. And as soon as I connected with that, I thought, oh, this is how I can apply things. And it and it just changes how you drive. So I would say before you get into an arts administration program, just sit down and think to yourself, it doesn't have to be specific to an organization or a mission or a vision or anything like that.
To say what? Like, why do I want to do this? Because then when you're learning things, you think, yes, this is like one step closer to my goal and it's exciting. So you just once the fire is lit, it's so much easier to do that hard work that Tania and Jenna obviously know all about the nodding and the discussion of the intensity. And I would say that my advice is to scrap any idea of a scarcity mindset, because like everyone has said, it's about collaboration. You're networking, you're meeting people. And as much as it feels challenging to be in the arts in Calgary, in Edmonton, in Alberta, in Canada, sometimes the more you collaborate and the more you pool resources or use your networking and use your colleagues as sources of inspiration and innovation, the more that we are going to get done as a collective, because if we dance, which I can't, or we sing, which I love too, we're all in the same team.
KATRINA: Wonderful, wonderful. Well, we've talked a bit about where you've been, we've talked about what you've learned in your programs. I want to shift now to where are you going and thinking about the next five or ten years. Where do you see yourself going? Sue-Shane, I'll start with you.
SUE-SHANE: Well, so maybe I'll talk a little bit about what Sue’s Stokvel is just to put it in context. So Sue Stockwell is online, is an online book club to start as an online book club. But it's a digital platform for storytelling. And so I do book reviews for them and I review black indigenous people of color books written by writers and really just and I work with Shelf-life. And so all the books that I recommend for my book club are available. Shelf-life and I'm, wanting to expand, so I in the next five to ten years, I hope to have some kind of reading program, summer reading program for black youth that would give them an opportunity to talk about things, difficult subjects using reading as kind of a point of departure. So talking about belonging, talking about gender, race and all these things, but using a reading club, kind of a reading program as a starting point for that. And I would also like to, I don't know if this is going to happen in the next five to 10 years, but to stop those also is also really about finding new voices within the African literature landscape. And so I would love to at some point start a publishing house. And so that's one of the big things for me is to be able to get enough resources to open up opportunities for people to write and to be compensated for it and for that to be kind of a viable career choice for people and for their stories to be available everywhere. And it's really difficult to buy African literature in bookstores here. And so really trying to bring a local that also includes people who've moved here who haven't been here that long. So that's really my goal.
KATRINA: That's amazing. I love that vision. And I'll just add to it, to everyone else. If you want to talk about a longer term vision that extends out beyond five or ten years, feel free to add that in. So thanks very much, Sue-Shane. I'll move on to you Jenna to talk a little bit about what's in store for you next.
JENNA: Yeah, I don't really have anything specific in mind, but I definitely know that I want to be somewhere in the theatre realm in Edmonton. There's just so many things like I knew so much like I knew a lot about the Edmonton art scene before the program. But then after this program, I've learned about so many different little theatre companies and things. I would just love to be somewhere in the theatre, somewhere when I'm done.
KATRINA: Sounds amazing. And Meghan, how about yourself?
MEGHAN: Part of the recent mentorship I did with the M Squared Connect program was thinking about what was coming next. And part of what inspires it is actually about my sister, almost four weeks ago had a baby and she lives in the U.K. So what I'm thinking about is actually looking for a career or a position across the pond. And part of that comes from having lived in Calgary most of my life, except for when I went to school in Ontario. And part of it is wanting to be close to a new baby. But the big drive that I'm feeling right now is that I think this whole pandemic has really brought mental health to the forefront for a lot of people.
And I think that music is so, so instrumental, if you will, in aiding and mental health strategies. And so what I am looking for and looking ahead to is finding a position in an organization where I can start making a difference with the musical knowledge that I have amassed and also using my artistic administration skills to really push those goals and help people who have mental health struggles.
KATRINA: Yeah, that sounds fantastic. And there is so much research that supports what you've just said about music and mental health. Those things really do seem to go hand in hand. Tania, what about yourself, what does the future hold?
TANIA: Well, I'm going to say I have no idea, but the plans, there are plans and I, what I'd like to do and thankfully actually the pandemic has weirdly brought this into. It's actually been easier to do this and to realize it or to start to realize it, our plan for the creation camps and classes for youth had always been to. Eventually, we had been doing them for a few years in person and we still are doing them in person to some degree. But the biggest plan was to do a lot more online classes and to create like a whole system of online comic book creator instruction for young people. And more schools and more people are now familiarizing themselves with online instruction in general. And so I think that this is actually to that goal. This has actually been kind of good, trying to look for the silver lining and, of a pandemic. But, yeah, that more people are becoming comfortable with online instruction and with online instruction for kids. That's sort of been helping. So I'd love to at some point, my biggest thing I mean, I guess what I would love to see is like a whole school developed for young people that would be able to house all of these comic book, these young comic book creators, because there are some incredible ones in Edmonton and across Alberta. And I'd love to see it expand. And yeah..
KATRINA: That sounds amazing. Absolutely amazing. All of your plans sound amazing. You are all amazing. And I just want to say thank you so much for taking time to share your stories, share your programs with us and with the listening audience. Thank you very much for being here today, all of you. Thanks.
Analysis
KATRINA: Annetta I loved talking with this group of amazing young women, and I was so impressed by their passion, by all of their side hustle projects, launching not for profits. It was just inspiring to see how much they have done at this stage in their careers.
ANNETTA: Oh, absolutely incredible and fascinating talking to each of them who are all at a different phase in their careers. You know, you've got Jenna, who's just started and Tania was amazing the way she talked about setting up a not for profit and taking extra accounting. I mean, who does that? But what I loved was the way they all were so passionate about putting their theory to practice.
KATRINA: Yeah, I picked up on that as well, and it reminded me that when you're a student, you know, you have this license to try new things. You can meet new people, you can experiment, you can take all of that great stuff that you learned in the classroom and actually apply it. And you can do a lot of things at this stage in your career. You don't have to be limited in any way. And I think that all of these women gave examples of how they've done that. And it was, again, just so inspirational.
ANNETTA: Oh, absolutely, absolutely. And I think if there's any take home for me, I guess as someone who's been in the practice for a long time, is get out there and have a go at something, I mean, even I felt inspired by the end of it and thought, well, maybe I should put my student hat back on again and just have a little bit of license to just explore. You're right, they're incredible. And I'm really looking forward to watching their careers as they develop and grow in this field. I think they’ll all have really significant careers, really.
This show was created by Executive Producer and Host Annetta Latham; Co-host Katrina Ingram. Technical Producer Paul Johnston. Research Assistants involved were Caitlin McKinnon and MacEwan bachelor of music students.
Theme Music by Emily Darfur and cover art by Constanza Pacher. Special thanks to the Rose Foundation for their support and to our guests. Artful Conversations is a production of MacEwan University and Assistant Professor Annetta Latham, all rights reserved.
Latham, A. (Executive Producer and Host). Regan-Ingram, K (Host). (2020, October 16) [Season 2: Episode 3]. Sue-Shane Tsomondo, Meghan Goguen, Tania Gigliotti and Jenna Kerekes. Podcast retrieved from: https://www.artfulconversations.com/season-2-1/2021/2/6/ep-5-macewan-university-arts-amp-cultural-management-and-rosza-foundation-students