Happy New Year! It is quite unreal how another covid year has flown by.. and the fact that it has also been a year since my last blog. But here's another music-related blog, and I'm writing about my externship experience with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, a professional chamber orchestra in St. Paul, MN (well, that makes sense).
Before starting to unpack my whole experience, I'll start with just a quick explanation- an externship is a three-week (or sometimes two weeks) shadow/short project-based experience exclusive for Carleton students, which provides a low-stake environment for career exploration. It is one of my favorite Career Center programs of all time. Externships take advantage of the trimester system- and a long winter break schedule- that Carleton has and turn it into a unique career experience.
How come a non-music major decided to do a music-related externship? Well, music plays an important role in my 21 years of existence, whether as an avid concert-goer, amateur pianist, or an okay acapella (and karaoke) singer. Being mostly on the performing side of music, however, I don't get a lot of exposure to how music organizations operate. As I'm maneuvering through the career existential crisis as a senior, I was excited to find out about the externship with the SPCO- it fulfills both my curiosity about the "behind the scene" of an orchestra and the practicality of learning more in-depth about what a career path in the arts management looks like. The rest of my reflection will be in the form of a Q&A.
Sonata for 2 Pianos in D major, K.448/375a by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, featuring Hisui Takeda, March 2021
Q: What were some of the projects you worked on? And what was your day-to-day like?
I worked with the Patron Development department (which has two teams- Development and Marketing) at the SPCO. I mostly worked with the development team helping with the MSAB application process as well as donor engagement program research. For the marketing side, I did a couple of small research projects and database updates. As for my day-to-day, Tuesdays through Thursdays are usually when I have scheduled meetings, but it varies quite a bit depending on what projects and what meetings I have on that day. I would be either having informational interviews with people in the organization, updating my progress with my supervisors and asking for feedback, or working independently on my work.
Q: What were some of the most interesting discoveries you made during the externship experience? About the industry? About yourself?
One of the most interesting discoveries about the SPCO was definitely how unique it is as a performing arts organization. The SPCO is very dedicated to the accessibility of classical music to the community and also the diversity of the audience member, musicians, and the genres of music they play. Moreover, what stood out to me was how welcoming the organization is- all the people who I interacted with were genuine, friendly, willing to help out, but also smart, driven.. and quirky (a plus)! It is not a given at an organization, and it is also why people working at the SPCO tend to stay for a very long time.
I realized more about myself too, through externing at the SPCO. I care a lot about the environment and the purpose of the organization that I work for. I want to work at a place where its purpose aligns with my values and colleagues are committed to such purpose. The SPCO's mission statement, which was revised in 2018, reflects the organization's dedication to create high-standard music and do so in a way that's accessible and equitable. They put a lot of effort in committing to the purpose statement, including lowering tickets cost, advancing neighborhood concert series (to areas where classical music is not as accessible), incorporating contemporary repertoire, and collaborating with BIPOC musicians.
Our mission is to sustain a world-class chamber orchestra at the highest standards of artistic excellence that enriches the Twin Cities community by sharing dynamic, distinctive and engaging performances. We are actively committed to accessibility and intentional inclusivity in all aspects of our work and continually strive to provide all people in our community with opportunities to connect with the music we perform.
Trio in C, London | Franz Joseph Haydn | Performance excerpt
Q: Who contributed to your success and who was part of your support network?
My supervisor Erin! She was encouraging and organized, which made this experience much more engaging even though it is a virtual externship. ERIN helped me set up a lot of informational meetings and guided me through my projects (especially the grant-related projects). On top of that, she was also very caring- she texted me to check in when there was a severe weather alert in Northfield!
Q: What connections did you make that were most valuable?
I enjoyed the conversations that I had with everyone at the organization, but one in particular- I had an informational interview with the artistic director Kyu, who's also the principal violinist of the orchestra. He talked about how this role that he is in is not a common one in the orchestra world, that is, having an artist on the management side. He asked the board to consider having musicians be in the management position when the last artistic director stepped down. It is challenging for him to balance both the performing and the managing side, but it is also an important role to an organization to have someone on the performing side to be part of important conversations in order to push the organization forward musically and socially. My conversation with Kyu encourages me to think about strengths and career paths. Some career paths are multi-dimensional, unconventional, interdisciplinary, and you need to take charge in creating such opportunities.
Kyu-Young Kim: Why I Stayed at the SPCO
Q: What were some of your most challenging moments? Why were they challenging? How did you overcome them?
I would say one of the most challenging parts of my externship was scheduling and finding time to work on my independent projects. Sometimes my day is just filled up with informational interviews and team meetings and it's hard to find time to work on my tasks. It's especially challenging that the externship was remote and it requires more energy to stay focused and present. I talked to my supervisor about it, and she said it was one of the things she transitioned from college to a work setting- that you have to learn to make the time between meetings productive, even it may be just 15 minutes. What I found helpful was to compartmentalize my tasks- mostly mentally. I would unpack meetings at the end of the day (and write down important reflection on the externship master document that I use as a guide for discussions/check-ins with my supervisor), rather than chewing on a particular conversation or trying to find a resource people mentioned right after the calls so that I could focus on the tasks I was given.
Q: What were your greatest strengths? Your biggest areas for improvement? How will you use what you've learned in the future?
My goal for this externship was to learn more about myself and the performing arts industry. It was another good opportunity to reflect on my strengths, which are my open-mindedness and research skills. Such qualities allowed me to adapt to new environments relatively fast and learn things quickly. However, I can manage my time more efficiently when transitioning into a new work setting.
In terms of my exploration of the performing arts industry, one outcome was very reaffirming- it is definitely an industry that I feel passionate about and personally connected to, and I can see myself working in this industry. If an opportunity arises in the next few months, I would to go for the opening! Another thing that I learned was how important it is for an arts organization to manage its finance well (whether that is the development side, ie. fundraising, donor relation, grant-writing, or the accounting side). Pursuing a graduate degree in business/finance would also lead me to a career in the performing arts non-profit- with organizations like the SPCO.
There are also things that I learned more specifically about the industry- some projects/work/guidelines can be quite local, even to a state level, so it could be challenging if I want to work internationally and travel around different countries. Although there are definitely common threads, it might be hard to transition to another organization given that many programs that arts organizations do are grounded in the local community. That being said, my externship with the SPCO has given me a lot of insights and connections that will be very helpful along the way of exploring possibilities in the performing arts industry. And that concludes my blog. Have a wonderful new year and thanks for reading!
Going to an SPCO holiday concert, outside of the Ordway Center, St. Paul. The photo was taken on 12/18/21 by my friend Jeanny.