Considering the Fellowship? (part 5: research)
Read other parts of this series 1 | 2| 3 | 4 | 5
When I began to seriously consider the Fellowship, I asked the inevitable question,” what does it take to be accepted?” This question led me to research what I could into the backgrounds of Fellow alumni. The short online bios posted by the League were a great starting point.
From these bios, I learned that two of the five Fellows from the class of ’03, Gloria Kim and Ari Solotoff, had come straight out of undergraduate school into the Fellowship. However, I found out one year later that every single member of the class of ’04 had multiple years of experience and/or advanced degrees. For heaven’s sake, just check out the credentials of Francis Lai (now executive director of the Northbrook Symphony, congrats Francis) and Emma Dunch (congrats to you as well Emma).
From this information, I gathered that extensive full time experience and/or advanced degrees, although very helpful, were not solid prerequisites for acceptance. This only further sparked my curiosity. What were the connecting factors between these seemingly very different people? What qualities or qualifications was the League looking for and did I have them? Unfortunately, there is only so much printed words can tell you.
The summer after my first of two undergrad senior years was spent as a marketing and public relations intern at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Here I had my first of many informational interviews. This one was with Fellow alumnus and Director of Public Relations, Synneve Carlino. This interview and many of the ones that would follow focused on both the general field, grad school and the Fellowship.
I walked away from my first interview with three main pieces of advice. Synneve encouraged me to always follow my gut instincts, seek out interviews with other arts managers, and maintain a steady diet of reading industry news. This steady diet now includes:
Over time, I assembled an interview “hit list” and either spoke, emailed or met with a dozen managers; everyone from Fellow alum to grad school directors to critics of the League and the Fellowship.
Here are some of the major points I gathered from these interviews:
Regarding the Fellowship:
All of my research taught me that the answers are out there, I just had to get on the phone or type an email to find them. I also learned to be equipped with good questions and ask people about themselves. People usually love talking about themselves and you can learn a lot from listening to their stories.
If you are interested in the field or the Fellowship, I encourage you to start asking your questions. As always, please feel free to send any my way at jtsai@tsailog.com.
Read other parts of this series 1 | 2| 3 | 4 | 5
When I began to seriously consider the Fellowship, I asked the inevitable question,” what does it take to be accepted?” This question led me to research what I could into the backgrounds of Fellow alumni. The short online bios posted by the League were a great starting point.
From these bios, I learned that two of the five Fellows from the class of ’03, Gloria Kim and Ari Solotoff, had come straight out of undergraduate school into the Fellowship. However, I found out one year later that every single member of the class of ’04 had multiple years of experience and/or advanced degrees. For heaven’s sake, just check out the credentials of Francis Lai (now executive director of the Northbrook Symphony, congrats Francis) and Emma Dunch (congrats to you as well Emma).
From this information, I gathered that extensive full time experience and/or advanced degrees, although very helpful, were not solid prerequisites for acceptance. This only further sparked my curiosity. What were the connecting factors between these seemingly very different people? What qualities or qualifications was the League looking for and did I have them? Unfortunately, there is only so much printed words can tell you.
The summer after my first of two undergrad senior years was spent as a marketing and public relations intern at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Here I had my first of many informational interviews. This one was with Fellow alumnus and Director of Public Relations, Synneve Carlino. This interview and many of the ones that would follow focused on both the general field, grad school and the Fellowship.
I walked away from my first interview with three main pieces of advice. Synneve encouraged me to always follow my gut instincts, seek out interviews with other arts managers, and maintain a steady diet of reading industry news. This steady diet now includes:
- reading up on daily news and blogs at artsjournal.com
- subscribing to the League’s daily email newsletters
- reading the arts section of major newspapers such as the New York Times
- periodically checking in with other websites such as andante.com and musicalamerica.com
- reading books suggested to me through other interviews (book topics range from orchestras to leadership to popular management techniques)
Over time, I assembled an interview “hit list” and either spoke, emailed or met with a dozen managers; everyone from Fellow alum to grad school directors to critics of the League and the Fellowship.
Here are some of the major points I gathered from these interviews:
Regarding the Fellowship:
- Ability and potential to lead are the number one qualities sought after in a Fellow.
- Many Fellowship applicants, at some point in time, have aspired to be performers (not so in my case).
- The program is always changing. Graduates once were expected to become Executive Directors but these days, that pressure has declined.
- Not everyone out there agrees with the League or the purpose of the Fellowship.
- According to several sources, the two-day finals in New York were “the most stressful but rewarding two days of my life.” Having been through them myself…I agree.
- Most senior level managers in the field do not have advanced degrees related to their work.
- Those numbers, however, are changing. This could very well be due to the increasing number of available programs around the country.
- Although having an MBA is not necessary, it sure comes in handy when relating to board members who do.
- Ultimately, those who have advanced degrees told me to look into an MBA while those who did not said it was not necessary (read into that what you will).
- Executive Directors have traditionally risen from operations but that trend is fading and many new EDs have backgrounds in fund raising, finance or marketing.
- The larger an organization you are working in, the more narrow your responsibilities (this can be good and bad).
- Working for a large orchestra might give you better connections but working for a small orchestra will give you better all-around exposure.
- If you know that you definitely want to work in a specific department (i.e. marketing), look for a marketing position at a large orchestra. If you are unsure what department best suits you, look for any position at a small orchestra.
- Smaller orchestras theoretically have more flexibility to try new things whereas larger organizations move much more slowly.
All of my research taught me that the answers are out there, I just had to get on the phone or type an email to find them. I also learned to be equipped with good questions and ask people about themselves. People usually love talking about themselves and you can learn a lot from listening to their stories.
If you are interested in the field or the Fellowship, I encourage you to start asking your questions. As always, please feel free to send any my way at jtsai@tsailog.com.
Read other parts of this series 1 | 2| 3 | 4 | 5
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