"New Paradigms for the New Reality of the Performing Arts" will focus upon what we have to do, and what are we already doing differently, today,
to survive and prosper as Presenters, Artists, and Agents, in the new economic realities we face."
Identifying and adapting to new Paradigms is the point.
DELIVERING USEFUL SOLUTIONS TO OUR AUDIENCE IS OUR GOAL!
Presented at the Midwest Arts Expo (MAX) Meeting, Monday, September 18, 2023, Indianapolis, IN.
MEET OUR PANEL MEMBERS, BELOW!
Joi Brown joined Strathmore in 2015 and serves as the Artistic Director/Vice President of Programming. In this role she determines the overall artistic direction of the institution, season planning overseeing more than 100 programs annually.
Brown has been an active member of the presenting and touring industry since 1987. Prior to joining Strathmore, she operated a consulting agency, working with more than a dozen arts organizations planning programming, special projects, and supporting strategic research. She also worked for six years as Vice President of Programming and Education at Omaha Performing Arts and spent 20 years in Wisconsin as General Manager and Director of Programming for Weidner Center for the Performing Arts, Executive Director for the Oshkosh Grand Opera House, and programmer for the John Michael Kohler Arts Center.
As Producing Director of EPIC Arts Management LLC, Ron DeStefano oversees the internal logistics and day-to-day operations of the company. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Florida State University with degrees in Vocal Music and Chemistry, Ron moved to New York City immediately following graduation to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. As an actor, he has performed at some of the most historic and well-reputed venues in the United States. Nationally, Ron appeared opposite Academy Award nominee Theodore Bikel in the Broadway Tour of Fiddler on the Roof, and he received the coveted Back Stage Bistro Award for his cabaret work. Ron is also an accomplished pianist, vocal director, and producer
In 2009, he joined forces with Melissa Giattino to create "Two on Tap", performing for tens of thousands worldwide. Since then, the EPIC team has proudly launched three new in-house concert productions! Ron is thrilled that each show's immediate success allowed him to provide opportunities for his incredibly talented artist friends to share their gifts with the world. After years as self-represented artists and independent producers, Ron and Melissa began curation of the EPIC Arts Management Artist Roster in 2018, providing full-service career management to independently-created acts discovered through rolling nationwide searches for high-level talent. Ron is a former member of the Board of Directors of NAPAMA, focusing his efforts on continuing education via leadership of the Professional Development Committee.
Karen A. Fischer founded Pasifika Artists Network in 2009, an agency with an award-winning roster of performers from Hawai‘i and the Pacific. Prior to that, she was President & CEO of the Maui Arts & Cultural Center. Her over 40 years of arts experience includes such major U.S. organizations as Cal Performances at UC Berkeley; Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco; The Joffrey Ballet and Metropolitan Opera in New York; and numerous boards and panels. She currently is Chair Emeritus of the APAP Board and is serving her final term on the Board.
Victor Haskins is a multi-instrumentalist, multidisciplinary artist, international performer, composer, improviser, bandleader, and educator. Haskins creates transformative, sound-based works which channel the power of human connection, immediacy, and inventiveness to engage with time and space.
Haskins has performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., played concert halls and festivals throughout Virginia and Maryland, performed in clubs from New York to New Orleans, and taken his creativity and message of music education internationally to locations in Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America. Victor has released 3 albums of his original music: The Truth (2013), Showing Up (2019), and Ikigai (2022).
The National Endowment of the Arts, the Virginia Commission for the Arts, and Richmond CultureWorks have awarded grant funding to Victor in support of his work with ImproviStory (Victor’s multidisciplinary performance art unit) and Victor Haskins & SKEIN (Victor’s progressive music ensemble).
As an educator, Victor Haskins independently produces educational materials, teaches private lessons, and conducts masterclasses and workshops. For the College of William & Mary, Victor teaches Jazz Trumpet, Improvisation, and the Jazz Ensemble, and is the Director of the Ewell Concert Series.
Victor Haskins is sponsored by Denis Wick mouthpieces and Eclipse Trumpets.
Eric Olmscheid loves the arts and community and the impact they make on our lives. Since 2022 he has served as the Executive Director of Wharton Center for Performing Arts on the campus of Michigan State University. Prior, Eric spent 14 seasons with Des Moines Performing Arts in Des Moines, Iowa as the Director of Programming where he worked to expand and diversify artistic offerings and education programs. He started his career at the Ordway in Saint Paul, MN. Eric is an active member of the Broadway League and was awarded the 2016 Broadway League Outstanding Achievement in Education & Engagement Award. He is currently on the nonprofit boards of Heartland Performing Arts (producers of the Midwest Arts Xpo) and Choose Lansing CVB. A native Minnesotan, Eric holds a Master’s in Arts & Cultural Management from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota and a Bachelor’s in Music from the University of Minnesota Duluth. When not at work, Eric enjoys adventures with his partner Adam and their two pandemic doodles, Rue Hammerstein and Beo Sondheim.
Billboard charting artist Robin Spielberg has been hailed as one of America’s most popular contemporary female pianists/composers. She has recorded 24 studio albums for solo piano, orchestra, and piano/ensemble. Robin is in the 4th decade of her touring career. Robin has played Carnegie Hall and has toured throughout the US, South Korea and China, where she is a bonafide “piano star.” An entrepreneur since 1993, Robin owns her own music publishing company. She and her husband/business partner Larry Kosson, own Kosson Talent, a talent booking agency, and record label imprint playMountain Music.
Robin serves as Artist Spokesperson for the American Music Therapy Association and is a founding member of the Mindful Music Association. She has given a popular TEDx Talk on the transformative power of music and several keynote addresses on the links between Music and Mental Health. She served as Secretary of OAPN, is an adjunct professor in the music business department of Millersville University, and authored a book detailing her unconventional path in the business of music, “Naked on the Bench: My Adventures in Pianoland."
This Bayou Man, Mister MOJO, and his troupe of near-mad musical provocateurs, have poured Louisiana Fire on audiences across the planet since 1985.” Syndicated News Network. Thrilling audiences Worldwide since 1985, MOJO & The Bayou Gypsies have made millions of people happy, and enriched the lives of countless children with their Arts Outreach. Mojo has performed on PBS, ABC, CBS, NBC, Superstation WGN, FOX, and CMT TV Networks, released 25 albums of original Music certified by the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. He is a producer, composer, performer, manager, and presenter in Music, Stage, and Film, who started his professional career in 1963. Mister MOJO was a Board Member of NAPAMA (North American Performing Arts Managers and Agents) for six years, and received NAPAMA's 2021 Liz Silverstein Award for Artist/Agent/Manager. He is the historian who got the Zydeco Rubboard into the Smithsonian Institution, and is executive producer of historic, feature-film documentaries. He is an International Music Ambassador for the State of Louisiana, and is an active advocate for the Arts working with many of America's top Arts Agencies as a member, a speaker, and mentor. He's also a character actor appearing in feature movies, a featured star in the opening of CMT's "Swamp Pawn" series based in the Louisiana Bayous, and star/producer of the “Swamp Girls Gone Crazy” series about strong, successful women entrepreneurs from the Bayous! Mister MOJO’s life and career are the subject of the multi-award winning feature documentary, “The Magic Behind the MOJO”, by Gallo Films. Filled with MOJO's original music, the film won an award for “Best Original Score” from the Southern Academy. His song, "Lights on the Bayou" is also the theme for the documentary series, "Soldiers Stories", permanently playing in the The National Museum of the United States Army at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Diversity, Inclusion, and Charity are pillars of MOJO’s lifetime work reflected in his performers, his music, and, especially, his lifetime of mentoring and supporting hundreds of Artists, Agents, Managers, Presenters, and causes since the 1960s to today. After a 2-year Covid Intermission, MOJO & The Bayou Gypsies are back on the concert stage for their 38th Season. Mojo's charitable performances have raised millions of dollars for worthy causes. His three Humanitarian Awards from Shriners Hospitals for Children say it all. “I measure my success by how many people I’ve made happy… that’s my Lifetime Mission and Goal!”
Description, Background, Agenda
"New Paradigms for the New Reality of the Performing Arts"
Session Description:
"New Paradigms for the New Reality of the Performing Arts" will focus upon what we have to do, and what are we already doing differently, today, to survive and prosper as Presenters, Artists, and Agents, in the new economic realities we face." Identifying and adapting to new Paradigms is the point. DELIVERING USEFUL SOLUTIONS TO OUR AUDIENCE IS OUR GOAL!
Background:
A Paradigm is a set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality for the community that shares them, especially in an intellectual discipline. Paradigm can sometimes be used more loosely to mean "the prevailing view of things."
Novel thinking, experiences and successes in Developing, Presenting and Delivering the arts to society, within the constraints of the New Realities in the Performing Arts, are the deliverables.
Panel members include Presenters, Artists and Agents/Managers who bring novel, successful suggestions, and experience to this session. Audience members will also have an opportunity to share their experiences.
Agenda:
I. Statement of Goals for the session (Mojo)
II. Introduction of Panel Members (Mojo)
III. Panel Members' Roundtable Presentations
A. Each Panel Member will speak 5 minutes
(questions held until after all Panel Members have spoken)
B. Panel Members' Group Discussion
(Q&A among panel members)
IV. Audience Participation
(Q&A, Observations, etc.)
V. Wrap up