Welcoming Karen Brown, UMS’s Inaugural Chief Operating Officer

By UMS

On July 9, Karen Brown joined UMS as its inaugural Chief Operating Officer. Karen comes to UMS from Boston, where she spent the past 20+ years working for another multidisciplinary presenter, the Celebrity Series of Boston, recently renamed Vivo Performing Arts. UMS Vice President of Marketing & Communications Sara Billmann recently sat down with Karen for a conversation.

UMS: Tell us a bit about your background in the performing arts.

Karen Brown: I grew up playing the clarinet. I moved around a lot as a child due to my father’s work, and participating in music was the way I would get connected to the new community. I studied music at Ithaca College, where I also explored arts administration possibilities and then delved into the performing arts as a career.

I’m really grateful to have a career that’s rooted in my personal interests. I’ve had experience with an artist management company in New York City, the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Tanglewood Music Center, and the cornerstone of my career thus far, at Celebrity Series of Boston. I’ve always been drawn to the presenting space as I appreciate and enjoy the artistic variety. It keeps things interesting.

You started your career working in dance, correct?

Yes, I started off as a booking assistant at IMG Artists, supporting three sales staff representing North America and a roster of 75 different artists. It was a crash course in not only how the industry functions, but also a host of new artists and genres. I moved towards the managerial side and worked with a roster of a dozen different dance companies and just immersed myself in contemporary modern dance. I had a small expense account and attended performances several nights a week. Seeing lots of quality work, especially in NYC, was an expectation of the job and tremendously enjoyable for me, as well.

And then you went to Tanglewood.

I enjoyed my time at the BSO very much, having multiple venues for one institution, varied audiences, and a deep exploration of orchestral music. The Berkshires are beautiful! However, I missed the artistic variety and pace of a major presenting series.

So you ended up at Celebrity Series, an organization that we know very well here at UMS, where you spent 20 years.

22 years. It’s a big move, to pack up from 22 years in Boston to come here! I have always admired the work of UMS — our organizations are industry peers. And I knew that it was time for me to try something new and stretch myself professionally. As someone who moved around a lot as a child, I also wanted to extend ourselves as a family unit, if the right opportunity presented itself.

What are you most looking forward to in this new role?

What ultimately drew me to this moment was the opportunity to support the 150th anniversary; shape some of the strategic directions that have been outlined by the staff, board and leadership; and make a difference in this community. There’s such an impressive, strong foundation already, and I’m honored to be a part of the organization’s next chapter. I’m deeply motivated by mission-driven work and using the arts to help build connections and enrich people’s lives as individuals and communities.

I’m also curious and interested in engaging with the university opportunities here. Since I am coming from an environment where that has not been as closely integrated with learning, I’m eager to help further develop this relationship.

I think it’s fair to say that UMS wouldn’t be UMS without the University, and some people would even say the University might not be the University without UMS. I want to switch gears a little bit to the presenting world, because a lot of people don’t really understand what it means to be a presenter, especially one that works in a vast array of different spaces.

The opportunities that are on the table when working in multiple venues, the artistic variety this invites, and the connection with communities — all of these offer incredibly rich and varied experiences for audiences. So, I will take a role that requires working in many different places, people and artists any day of the week. I really do think it fuels creativity in a way that ultimately benefits our communities.

All right. Now I’m going to ask you a funny question that you won’t be able to answer.

Green.

That’s not the answer. It’s in the spirit of, you can’t pick your favorite child.

No, please don’t ask me to pick a favorite.

I’m not going to ask you to pick a favorite artist, but talk about a few performances over your career that really stand out.

This is going to be so hard. Let’s start with Street Pianos, which was a public art project I worked on in 2012 and again in 2016, created by British artist Luke Jerram. The premise behind the work is that used upright pianos are painted by community members and then placed in outdoor spaces for anyone to play and enjoy. As part of the 75th anniversary of Celebrity Series, we placed 75 pianos in different public places within the City of Boston, all painted by local artists, and available for all Bostonians for two and a half weeks. The project also needed 75 caretakers and we engaged a huge volunteer corps as yet another way of honoring the community-driven spirit of the work.

The main reason this project was so memorable is that it was the first of many public participatory arts projects we undertook over 15 years. All prioritized outdoor, interactive artistic experiences that engaged a larger, broader public than the organization had previously served. It was a big leap ahead for the institution, and it also allowed me to appreciate and connect with my community in new ways. We regularly visited all 23 neighborhoods in Boston during the planning, install, and festival periods, which deepened the organization’s relationship to the city and people of Boston. To this day Bostonians reminisce about Street Pianos with civic pride.

Amazing. Any other events you’d want to highlight?

Dreamers’ Circus is a band at the forefront of new Nordic folk music. Fans of the Danish String Quartet may know that violinist Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen plays with the quartet and also in this band. Dreamers’ were scheduled to perform in Boston, though the pandemic had other plans. So they recorded a digital performance film, which took place in a stunning non-traditional performance space in Copenhagen. In a very dark time, this digital performance was a bright spot of optimism and joy.

A few years later the group finally performed at Boston’s Jordan Hall in person, and I recall being completely overwhelmed by their work. To then experience their artistry live, in person, was almost too much. I snuck up to the balcony and cried my face off. I needed to be with people, and then at the same time, I just wanted to be by myself at that moment.

Two others I’ll mention for slightly different experiences. I remember a vocal recital we did probably 20 years ago by contralto Ewa Podleś. Remember her?

Absolutely. We have our own Ewa Podleś story.

Ewa had a huge, and unique, voice and could fill the largest of the world’s operatic houses. In the early 2000s she was invited to Boston for a vocal recital in a chamber music hall. During rehearsal, she took great care to adapt her voice to the room so she would deliver an exceptional performance. Preconcert, I recall listening to her prepare a full, proper vocal warmup in the dressing room. Her piano technique and her vocal control, range, and the seriousness with which she approached her instrument was at a level I had not seen with most touring artists, and I remember her as a bit of a force of nature onstage and off.

And for my last tale: For five years Celebrity Series of Boston and the entity that owns the Wang theater co-presented one major international ballet company every year for five years. During the load-in of the Bolshoi Ballet there was discussion about fire certifications and the need to cut a section of one of the scenic elements per Boston Fire Department procedures. The Bolshoi technical staff was furious, telling us that their scenic drop was older than our country, followed by some terse words in Russian. It was a humbling moment, to be sure. Just think of the history of that fabric!

I always love these stories, because it’s clear that so much of what someone brings personally to an experience contributes to what makes it particularly special. It’s not just about a great artist coming on stage and giving a great performance, but the audience is such a critical part of it.

If COVID taught us anything, it was to remind us that artists and audiences need each other for the live experiences to thrive. It’s unfortunate that shutting down public gatherings during a pandemic had to happen to remind us of the importance of this relationship.

So true. From the sublime to the ridiculous, we’ll move to a lightning round. Coffee or tea?

Coffee.

Wine or beer?

Wine.

Red or white?

White. Less messy.

Apple or Android?

Android.

Beethoven or Brahms?

Oh, that is very hard. I can’t choose. I’m a clarinet player and Brahms wrote some really lovely music for clarinet. But with all the repeats it can go on for days. I’ll say Beethoven for purposes of clarity. Ah, that one’s hard.

Ok, I’ll give you an easy one. Beethoven or Mahler?

Why are you stacking Beethoven up against anybody?!? Maybe that should be the answer then.

Anything else you’d like to add?

I am looking forward to being a part of the community here in Ann Arbor. My grandparents used to live here and so I have fond memories of visiting them during the holidays. Yet, I’m looking forward to making this experience our own.