Engaging the Community

Aug 23 2006
Browse archives for August 23, 2006
Aaron Flagg

Aaron A. Flagg was named dean of The Hartt School of the University of Hartford in March of 2009 by President Walter Harrison and Provost Lynn Pasquerella. As dean, he oversees a performing arts college for music, dance, and theatre with approximately 750 undergraduate and graduate students and 250 faculty and staff.

Originally from Baldwin Park, CA, Dr. Flagg is a professional trumpet player and received his undergraduate and master's degrees from The Juilliard School and his doctorate from the University of Michigan. His diverse experience includes concerto, recital, orchestral, and chamber music performances in classical, jazz, and new music.

Prior to his appointment at the University of Hartford, he was Executive Director of Music Conservatory of Westchester (2005-2009), a graduate faculty member and Director of Educational Outreach at The Juilliard School (2000-2005), and Director of the Jazz Studies program at the University of Connecticut (1999-2000).

As a trumpet player, Dr. Flagg has given concerto and other solo performances with orchestras, toured with chamber music groups, and performed numerous recitals. He has given master classes and recitals at Jackson State University and Fayetteville State University, and presented lectures at the Curtis Institute, Oberlin College, and Carnegie Hall.

His jazz performances include the Illinois Jacquet Big Band, the Music Outreach Jazz Ensemble, and the Aaron Flagg Quartet. He has toured with the Tania Leon's Son Sonora Ensemble; recorded with Roberta Flack and operatic soprano Barbara Conrad; and performed with the New York Philharmonic, Manhattan Virtuosi, Lansing Symphony, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Wynton Marsalis, Gladys Knight, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, among others.

Dr. Flagg is currently a board member of the League of American Orchestras in New York. He has served on numerous grant panels and was New York Metro Area chapter chair for the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts. He has been a consultant with arts presenting organizations and universities around the country, while also being a teaching artist for 15 years with organizations including the Lincoln Center Institute, Carnegie Hall Education, New York Philharmonic Education, Memphis Arts Council, Guggenheim Museum, and the New York City Opera. He was named a national spokesman for the Music Educators National Conference in Virginia in 1999 and received the Rising Star Award for Westchester's "Forty under Forty" in 2008.

All posts from Aaron Flagg
0

No comments yet.

Add your comment
Posted in

Spread the love

Several panelists have eloquently expressed our collective desire for engagement/outreach efforts to have a lasting impact on individual musicians, the community, and the orchestral institutions involved. I’m glad to read Ann’s reference the MetLife Awards for Community Engagement in writing about her personal satisfaction and some community results at the Hartford Symphony. Again, administered by the League, these annual awards honor some really in-depth projects being done by small and large orchestras around the country. You can read about them at http://www.symphony.org/edu/metlife/ .

I personally mourn the fact that there are no longitudinal studies documenting the impact of orchestra education programs on future audiences. Similarly, it would be helpful to have a study measuring the impact on job satisfaction experienced by musicians who participate in these programs versus those who do not, as well as any impact on arts education policy in the communities involved.

One exciting result I’d like to share is that three years ago the New York City Department of Education (DOE) decided to create a new set of standards for K-12 arts education. A broad group of cultural institutions including the New York Philharmonic and the Brooklyn Philharmonic were invited to join a group including city arts specialists to create a “Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in the Arts.” As a member of the advisory panel who helped write the music document and train teachers, I was proud to see the DOE recognize the expertise and contribution of orchestras to arts education in schools by inviting them to the table to create and ultimately help roll-out to city music teachers a new set of arts education standards that valued community resources like orchestras. I extend this success to ask, are our orchestras being invited by our cities to economic development meetings or job fairs?

Another key component touched on by my colleagues is the manner in which these efforts are designed. Are we telling or asking? Are we empowering their creativity or just showcasing our own? Does the discussion of engagement occur in the early planning stage of tours and season programming meetings or as we pack the double basses and print the programs? I see a similarity in the recent negotiation discussion where panelists were quick to differentiate between management picking musicians to serve on committees and the orchestra choosing their own representatives. The sensitivity around this was clear. Do we bother to ask what community need might a partnership with our orchestra meet? What do community members value? Dare we let our community have a hand in choosing repertoire? I am reminded of the Pittsburgh Symphony’s “Audience of the Future” program where high school students conceive, plan, pick the repertoire for, and implement an entire concert. What youth development, what job training!

Finally, I’d like to question the message orchestras send to their community by the structure used for their engagement activities. There are many different models used to deliver education and community work, including

1. Service conversion in the contract (CBA) with the orchestra’s regular musicians.

2. Separate agreements for the orchestra’s musicians, which compensate for training sessions and the engagement efforts.

3. A completely separate roster of musicians and/or teaching artists who are “non-orchestra” musicians but are perceived as “musicians from the orchestra” and paid a separate scale from the orchestra. (e.g., Los Angeles, New York, & Brooklyn)

Quick story: I played extra with the Brooklyn Philharmonic at a time when there were “two” Brooklyn Philharmonics (much like the Duke Ellington Band today). One did the education work, and one did the main concert work. I played in both and noticed a different contractor, conductor, many different musicians, and a different scale. After one side-by-side in a high school, we got word that moving forward the main orchestra would be doing all the education work. Although I gather there were many reasons, one cited was that the education scale had gotten so high. The interesting fact was a majority of the “second” orchestra members, including the contractor, were African-American and Latino, as were a majority of students in the schools visited.

My questions are:

1. Do the orchestra’s musicians know and support the way their orchestra implements its engagement efforts?

2. To what extent should outreach work be part of the job description and audition process for orchestra members in the future (e.g., Kalamazoo, MI)?

3. Do we respect the skills needed in education and community building efforts enough to support professional development in these areas?

I look very much forward to hearing feedback on these issues.

About the author

Aaron Flagg

Aaron A. Flagg was named dean of The Hartt School of the University of Hartford in March of 2009 by President Walter Harrison and Provost Lynn Pasquerella. As dean, he oversees a performing arts college for music, dance, and theatre with approximately 750 undergraduate and graduate students and 250 faculty and staff.

Originally from Baldwin Park, CA, Dr. Flagg is a professional trumpet player and received his undergraduate and master's degrees from The Juilliard School and his doctorate from the University of Michigan. His diverse experience includes concerto, recital, orchestral, and chamber music performances in classical, jazz, and new music.

Prior to his appointment at the University of Hartford, he was Executive Director of Music Conservatory of Westchester (2005-2009), a graduate faculty member and Director of Educational Outreach at The Juilliard School (2000-2005), and Director of the Jazz Studies program at the University of Connecticut (1999-2000).

As a trumpet player, Dr. Flagg has given concerto and other solo performances with orchestras, toured with chamber music groups, and performed numerous recitals. He has given master classes and recitals at Jackson State University and Fayetteville State University, and presented lectures at the Curtis Institute, Oberlin College, and Carnegie Hall.

His jazz performances include the Illinois Jacquet Big Band, the Music Outreach Jazz Ensemble, and the Aaron Flagg Quartet. He has toured with the Tania Leon's Son Sonora Ensemble; recorded with Roberta Flack and operatic soprano Barbara Conrad; and performed with the New York Philharmonic, Manhattan Virtuosi, Lansing Symphony, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Wynton Marsalis, Gladys Knight, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, among others.

Dr. Flagg is currently a board member of the League of American Orchestras in New York. He has served on numerous grant panels and was New York Metro Area chapter chair for the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts. He has been a consultant with arts presenting organizations and universities around the country, while also being a teaching artist for 15 years with organizations including the Lincoln Center Institute, Carnegie Hall Education, New York Philharmonic Education, Memphis Arts Council, Guggenheim Museum, and the New York City Opera. He was named a national spokesman for the Music Educators National Conference in Virginia in 1999 and received the Rising Star Award for Westchester's "Forty under Forty" in 2008.

View all posts Author website

Leave a Reply