About This Project
Designing for Audiences
Beer and Brass
My role as a creative leader is to construct an environment where creativity can flourish. This is s key feature of my work at the New World Symphony where I operate as a facilitator of creative thinking for both staff-related initiatives and Fellow driven projects such as the BLUE projects. Standing for Build, Learn, Understand and Experiment, NWS’s BLUE program is a combination of leadership and entrepreneurship training and hands-on experimentation that provides NWS Fellows with a comprehensive skill set to complement their musical training. NWS BLUE projects allow all Fellows to pursue musical activism based on their personal interests with their own original initiatives, from concept to execution. These special projects guide their continued development, while demonstrating music’s ability to have a positive impact on the community, and benefiting South Florida programs and businesses. NWS BLUE Projects are sponsored in part by the Maxine and Stuart Frankel Foundation.
One of the projects that were contrived in a workshop designed and lead by myself using the AXD framework was Beer and Brass – a concert that paired music for brass quintet with beers from Miami brewery Veza Sur.
The concept was built around a person that the Fellows came up with during the workshop, a young man with an interest in beer.
The first iteration was a live concert that took place at the New World Center. Each piece on the program was paired up with a complimentary beer.
The second iteration of in-person Beer and Brass had to be canceled due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Fellows adapted their concert design to take place in a digital space, reaching audiences in their own homes.
Ticketholders enjoyed a pre-recorded concert, a six-pack of curated Veza Sur beers (four of which were paired to music during the concert), program placemat, souvenir glass, and live interaction with the musicians and Veza Sur’s head brewer, Rhett Dougherty, who provided tasting notes for each pairing.
In addition to my role in this place as the facilitator for early-stage innovation, I also oversaw branding, advertising, and positioning of the event.