After
retiring from managing Jewel, I couldn’t resist the allure of a little
dabbling. The area that has always interested me most is artist
development. I love helping artists get started, get oriented,
understand their career, develop their talent, get recorded, get published, shown, discovered, get ahead. I
really enjoy the process of helping an artist advance. Artist Advance
gradually grew out of that enjoyment.
Simon Spire was the first musician I chose to develop in the Artist Advance Project
I
began advising an artist or two, or three, taking time to meet with
small groups and learn what they were up to, help where I could. As I
travel, I always take time to meet with artists, see what’s going on in
the area I’m in, hear stories, music. I began to offer help to some
over time. Sometimes, I simply made myself available to answer questions
and encourage along the way or reviewed their work, others I had an email correspondence with,
some I gave an hour or two for their most pressing questions about
their own career, sometimes I met them in groups, some I offered a
workshop. Eventually I decided to choose a couple of artists to help in
a very in-depth way—from songwriting, singing, performance, recording,
all the way to videos and promotion—whatever each individual artist
needed. I had a ball doing this and I share their stories and music,
and that of all the other artists, here in the Artist Advance pages and
on my blog.
Early this year, I wanted to try a community model I had in mind for Artist Advance. I started in a small community in Washington State, called Lopez. We raised money locally, held community-wide auditions for ages 12 and up, and we then moved into a recording process with the winners. Click here for info on the Lopez Artist Advance. In addition to musicians, I have worked with a couple of poets, two visual artists, and a talented chef! While music has a big focus in my life, Artist Advance is really about the development of talent and visibility in the arts.
Artist Advance includes the following:
1.
Random meeting, reviewing and selection of artists for a variety of
opportunities. A serendipitous talent search. I travel so much, you
never know when I might be in your town!
2. Sharing music, stories, and photos of artists I come across in my travels. I do this on my blog and website.
3. Community auditions and artists opportunities developed on the local community level. 4.
Groups – Meetings with groups put together by artists in their
own town. We meet, get to know each other, and share information and
music, art, writing. go to: Artist Advance Groups
