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queermusicalensembles-blog · 7 years ago

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Snippits from Interview with Jessie Riggins and Matthew Novotny

J- We currently do not have an executive director on the board, so I am acting executive director, as well as being president of the board. It is a lot of work. But it is going good.

Do you ever experience conflict between board members who play in the ensemble and those who do not?

J- Not really, sometimes they say that they don't have as good of a point of view since they do not play in the ensemble. But it is nice to have them because they are not as emotionally attached to the group in the same way playing members are. This makes it easier for them to help the board make unbiased decisions.

Do ensembles have a say in what is played by the ensemble?

J- Ensemble members have a say in what we play for the christmas concert, however, for all other concerts, the rep we play is decided by our artistic director Lee Hartman.

How has this organization changed in the four years you have been involved?

J- We have grown both in numbers and in musical ability. We are tackling music now that we could not have managed four years ago.

Do you like that change?

J- I do. Sometimes it is a little too ambitious, but for the most part I like the change.

What are some ways you feel that the organization has created a safe space for individuals in the KC Metro area?

J-That is the whole point of the organization, to have a space for people to come and play music and have fun and not worry about, ‘Oh, this person won’t like me because I am gay or bisexual’.

Taking that as your mission for the organization, do you feel that you are all doing a good job achieving this goal?

J-Yeah, I think we are. We are about 30% straight allies, so it is nice to have ally support in the organization.

Have the allies always been a part of the organization?

J- The allies numbers have been growing, but I think that is just a generational thing. People who are my and Mathews age in our 30s and younger, it is just a part of our everyday life.

M- I remember when straight people first showed up and the group said, ‘they are straight, we can't let them join the organization.’ Which I disagreed with because I felt that the organization was about inclusion of people over every sexuality/orientation. Because as far as I can see, straight people have often given us more support than any of the GLBT individuals have. It has been a good change.

M- This whole shift really happened in our organization about eight or so years ago.

Matt, how long have you been a part of the organization?

M- About 11 years at this point. I still play in the ensemble, which is great. It is better than doing everything else.

M-Well, it is hard because when I took over, we had less than twenty people, and we had just lost our founding director. So it was like everybody needed to know how to get everything done in the organization. We used to need people from the LGBTQ band in St. Louis to come just so we could have a large enough ensemble to play the music. But now we are to the point that we are starting to fall off the stage because there are so many of us. So it is really a good thing.

J-St. Louis also has an LGBTQ ensemble called Band Together.

Since you started playing four years ago, how did you get into being a board member?

J- Lee kinda pulled me into it, and I also am the kind of person who just agrees to everything.

J- We are starting to get a lot of younger individuals. And I think the political climate has had a large effect on that. People are starting to be more and more comfortable with the idea of joining as either an ally or an LGBTQ individual.

M-Also, a lot of gay bands have problems growing because they simply try to be a gay organization. But to be successful they need to do more than just exist as an LGBTQ ensemble. They also need to have social events, a board organization, and make good music. Because you really want the group to interact with the community and grow both socially as well as musically. Because we are all a family for one another, and that has helped us really bond together. Even with the political climate- when Trump got elected we all started to meet up more often. And that day he was elected, almost the whole band met up and just talked about all of our thoughts and concerns in the comfort of our ‘family’.

That is something Dr. Thurmeier mentioned, that the social aspect of the ensemble sometimes seems more important than the music itself.

J-Mhmm, I think that first of all, we are a community band. Then the identity behind that is that we are a gay and lesbian community band. If you google Kansas City Community band, we are always one of the first to come up online.

M- A lot of people want to join the ensemble that are not LGBT accepting, and we allow them. But they do not tend to stick around for too long. And it isn't that we try to hide it either. Our logo is a big rainbow banner.

M- That was before our time. But it is really just a process, and one of those things is that you have to organize a board. And the people on that board have both personal feelings and feelings about what the organization must do- and it can be difficult to do what is best as a board member in those situations. We also had to figure out how to manage money. Such as for a non-profit, you can make money, but it has to be put into that organization. For us we often use it for educational purpose. I remember we used to operate the whole organization on $7000 about six years ago. As soon as we got the backing of Arts KC, we started to have a lot better fortune in finding funding. That is where Lee helped us out a ton. Organizations will respect you more when you have leaders with doctoral degrees who are much more informed on what they are trying to achieve.

M- It’s different from a normal community band. All the banks and community pitch in the make the concerts work, music is from the high school band library, they don’t pay money for rehearsals. Gay bands don’t have that ability in the same way

M- If it wasn't for band, I would have a lot less friends. Before band I was a super introvert and didn't like to socialize with people, but now you see me and I can go talk to anybody about anything. And it has made me into the leader and person that I am today where I can manage my relationships with people much better. The Freedom band is where I started to develop my own identity, and that is why I started to get involved with the national organization- where I try to help other ensembles find ways to experience some of the growth that I have felt. At first, I was rejected from being a board member. But the ensemble was patient and taught me that, and when I was twenty five the board trusted me enough to be the executive director and to lead the organization. It was probably the biggest professional development that I have seen in my life.

J- It got me out of Warrensburg and became my whole identity. Today, when I introduce myself to people I say my name first, then I tell them about how I am affiliated with the organization. It is always first before everything.

M-I was always the same way. I never told people about my day job as a security officer, rather I told them how I was a director of the board for an ensemble or the treasurer for a national LGBTQ organization. Not that I say these things to brag about the title or the distinction, but instead because these ensembles mean so much to me. Band has just been my life. Without that I would be normal and boring, which is fine. When I came to KC I had nobody really. I was right after I was essentially kicked out of the military for being gay, and the pride band became my family quickly.

M- I am also a part of the national chapter of the gay band association. We do a lot of things with ensembles, like organizing the gay games, which is like an LGBTQ Olympics. I am the treasurer and membership chair for the national committee. I have been on the board for two years, but I was a board member for a year and a half before Obama’s inauguration. We got to march in both of Obama’s inauguration parades which was amazing considering I was carrying the US flag for a gay band, and I was a person who was kicked out of the military for being Gay. Being saluted by everybody down the street was a profound moment for me. And having the pride of this amazing band behind me with the context arching through DC really meant a lot to me and my community

J- We have a two hour practice every week where we are able to meet up and socialize with everybody in the band with us, while also working on music. Which is one of the greatest benefits of this ensemble.

M- I think that since we are an LGBTQ ensemble we have a definite emphasis on the social aspect of the organization. And I think that it is important that the organization have that. Because it is all about finding the proper balance between a social organization, but also a musical organization.

J- We have a wide variety of levels of players in the ensemble. Some of us have advanced degrees in music, while others have not really played their instrument in 15+ years. So it is always unique challenge to try to get everything to work out just fine.

M- We are willing to take any body who is playing though. We used to have a saying that said, “If you are out of the closet, then why isn't your instrument?” We have been active as organization for about fifteen years.

J- We have really been striving to play music by underrepresented composers. Last year for instance we had a concert of all female composers. But we love to play rep by LGBTQ composers. We also also work a lot with churches for performances and spaces to play. Some of our friends are Metropolitian community Church and Trinity Lutheran Church.

For individuals who want to join, what would you tell them?

M- Check out our website and think about what they can do to be involved. We have members who do not play but still support us. We are always willing to build our community, because everybody is welcome in our ensemble.

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queermusicalensembles-blog · 7 years ago

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An Interview with Dr David Thurmaier - Transcribed

[Lee] had told me it was a good organization, a good group to get involved with and they needed board members

I had played for a community orchestra for a couple years at my previous job in Florida so I had some familiarity with community groups and I thought I could bring that expertise I knew there was an LGBT band but I didn’t know anything about them.

So the board is made up of at least 3 non-playing members and then the rest are playing from the group so they can get a different perspective.

I probably could [play with the group], but my role is not to play.

It’s a good thing because you get objectivity. You have people who don’t go to every rehearsal and play with the group who can look back and be a bit more impartial to what is going on. There’s graphic designers to former band directors.

At a recent board meeting there was a complaint from one of the playing members that we have board members who don’t attend all of the rehearsals and who don’t participate in every activity and this person felt that this wasn’t good. But I made the point that I like the objectivity. I like going to a concert and seeing the finished product and getting the community perspective instead of having to be involved in every little decision.

I like the conversation that we have in our meetings. It brings a different perspective.

What kind of music do you play?

The orchestra I was in in Florida; the director kept pushing and pushing, wanting us to play Mahler and more. These are amateurs and you can get a push back. I’ve brought that up before that sometimes you have to think about your audience a lot. You know how some songs are more fun to play than to listen to? I certainly support the mission and the idea of the group.

There’s a national organization for LGBT bands coming here in the spring. That’s a big exciting thing, especially for Kansas City to have the exposure of that. It’s a big deal.

So the board does not deal with artistic stuff, that is what the artistic director is for. We oversee that person and they report to the board.

We oversee financial stuff. We have a budget and we have to decide what to approve.

Personnel decisions. My first board meeting, the executive director quit. It was very interesting. It was very dramatic for our first meeting.

It’s a non-profit. You don’t get paid a lot, there’s a lot of hassle, a lot of stress that comes with that. It’s tough.

Legal issues. We just insured the band. Protects everybody, the instruments. If somebody breaks a leg or trips on a case during rehearsal and sues we can protect ourselves.

A lot of people giving reports about stuff.

Everybody in the band pays dues, including board members. We do have scholarship subsidies if you’re not able to pay. We have fundraisers at bars and restaurants. There are grants we have one like the one from Missouri Arts Council. We sell t shirts and merchandise. We have some corporate sponsors as well.

It’s tough in the nonprofit world. You don’t always know where all the money is coming from, especially when the market was bad and the recession. You are looking for certain type of donor. The Kauffman’s are too big to give this sort of donation. They focus on big names like the ballet.

It’s one of those kinds of things where you can put as much time as you want into it. I’m very busy with my job here. Others are able to spend a lot more time on that. We have several communities like fundraising, marketing… We have a monthly meeting the first Tuesday of every month, but there’s certainly an opportunity for more.

The national organization has a big hand in [the convention], so they do a lot of the leg work. We had to look for hotels, the venue (it will be at the Kauffman center), getting the word out for bands, and all the logistics. It’s all the little things you don’t think about that need to be paid for like risers and movers. There’s a lot of extra stuff to do, but it’s a combined effort. The conference last year was in Denver.

This is my second year on the board.

We have some growing pains. The ensemble was very small and now we have 14 trombones falling of the stage at a concert. It’s gotten quite big and with that comes growing pains. Who do we want to be, how big do we want to be? Some people would prefer to play less difficult music and have it be more fun and other people like the challenge. They’s certainly improved. What do we do now? What’s the next step? It’s going to shine a spotlight on KC and our band.

There’s much more visibility. Heartland Men’s chorus is the other LGBT organization in KC. They are well known and established. I think people find choral music more accessible. I think both groups can help raise awareness in the Kansas City area. We did a survey and the group is about 60% LGBT and 30% straight or non. We have the mission, but I don’t think the people want to to be seen as a closed group. We have a mixture and I think people like the communal aspect of it. A place where everyone can be accepted no matter who you are. I think that’s one of the positives you can get out of it. I think it’s starting to improve the bigger it gets. Kansas City is a good place for LGBT, the best place I’ve lived.

Visibility - If you play diverse music, things that will draw in all types of audiences, word of mouth helps to draw people in. From what we’ve seen in surveys, [rehearsal] is pretty intense. Is this a professional orchestra or professional band? In a community group, people are there because they want to be and I think if you don’t balance that, people will leave. It’s a hard balance to try and find. Having a rehearsal that is productive, but also to enjoy what you’re doing and build the camaraderie. It’s a special type of group, this is tailored for the social justice aspect.

We play in the pride parade. Last week we played for an aids memorial. We play in some bars and clubs.

We are trying to get into the community and have a presence also. Getting out into major events is something we do.

We have some music majors and former directors and students and we have amateurs. It’s tough. That’s the balancing act of every group like this. It’s on the artistic director to find music that’s fun and challenging for people. You have to shoot in the middle of challenging and easy.

You have people who are very dedicated and who really care about the mission and want to make it a really good organization. I think the fact that we have this conference with 53 bands coming is some testament to the board and musicians. I hope it will be a really positive event. It’s an amazing group of people and something we can be really proud of here in KC to have that dedication. I highly encourage you to check out that conference.

It’s an open environment and a fun place to go and play music. Continuing in our political climate, the more visibility the better. We can’t take groups like this for granted. The more support the better.

#interview

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