Takeaways from our Pittsburgh and NYC Community Meetings
Members of the Pittsburgh music community recently joined New Music USA for a thoughtful discussion
New Music USA recently hosted community meetings in Pittsburgh and in New York City with local music creators, performers, organizers, and non-profit leaders in each city to discuss the current opportunities and challenges faced by each community member, and by the city’s music scene as a whole. The groups also discussed how people within the community may be able to collaborate in different ways, as well as what New Music USA can do as an advocate to influence other funders about what they need to thrive in the work they do.
These meetings reflect our aim to be perennially responsive to the ever-changing needs of the music community and work locally and regionally to increase and deepen our impact across the many diverse music communities in the US. Other recent community meetings have taken place in San Francisco and Los Angeles, and more are being planned for the coming months. Conversations with our community in cities across the U.S. have led to launching city-specific initiatives like our recently launched New Music Inc program.
Pittsburgh’s meeting took place in-person at local arts space City of Asylum where 26 community members joined New Music USA’s President and CEO Vanessa Reed plus programs team members Monisha Chowdhary and Christa Ebert. The meetings with NYC community members took place over three separate virtual sessions attended by 72 total guests, in addition to the New Music USA team members.
Both meetings featured thoughtful and important insights from community members from varying backgrounds, experiences, and genres in the music community. We enlisted the help of illustrator Rosi Greenberg to provide graphic notations to bring these dynamic conversations to life; check out her beautiful illustrations for each city below.
Pittsburgh, PA Community Meeting Takeaways:
We are grateful to Heinz Endowments for providing funding for the Pittsburgh meeting.
NYC Community Meeting Takeaways:
We offer sincere thanks to everyone who attended these meetings, offering valuable time and perspectives. We are ever grateful for our community and look forward to continuing to connect with artists and arts leaders from more cities and regions in the months to come.
