Morning Edition; Jay Gillman

It's morning edition on KRPS. 2020 was a challenging year, but performances and concerts continued in new ways. Pro music at Joplin also hired a new executive director, and he joins us this morning. Jay Gilman, good morning, and thank you for some of your time. Yeah, thanks so much for having me. So, first I ask what it's been like taking over Pro music at Joplin during this time that people can meet in person for concerts or performances, and what are some of the challenges and discoveries that you've had since taking over the job? Yeah, well, it's been tough. Going through both a leadership transition here at Pro Musica and this one-centred century pandemic is not easy for any organization, especially those like us, whose mission is to bring people together in often intimate settings with non-amplified music to be together for concerts. I'm fortunate that Pro Musica is incredibly well-regarded in the community. We have a deeply connected board, and of course the work we do is fantastic.

So in that way, we've got some wins at our back, but this hiatus that we've been forced to endure in terms of public concerts has been an interesting welcome to the position and of course to Joplin. Yeah, Pro Musica Joplin is incredibly well-known in the community. Not only in Joplin, but in the Southwest Missouri, I've gone to a couple of your guys' concerts and no matter the venue, it is packed, like it is filled. People are standing up to when you guys bring in performers and groups. And also since you've started at Pro Musica Joplin, you've created a program called The Overtures of Hope. Could you talk about that? Yeah, Overtures of Hope is a temporary initiative that we implemented here when we realized that the packed public concerts that you're talking about are not possible. We see Overtures of Hope as a cultural response to the military flyovers and the outdoor rounds of applause that took place earlier this year in support of frontline healthcare providers.

So through safe means, we're bringing small ensembles of chamber musicians to perform tribute concerts to uplift healthcare workers and other marginalized communities that have been severely impacted by the pandemic. We've reached nearly 200 patrons to date with those concerts and we're going to be resuming Overtures of Hope tribute concerts after the holidays. Yeah, you brought up outdoor performances and I just, just the other day, I spoke with Emily Fronkowski of Connect to Culture and in about two years from now, we'll have the Cornell Complex, built in downtown Joplin, two years seems close and far away at the same time. What is the Cornell Complex going to mean for an organization like ProMusica? Well, we're thrilled to be one of the founding tenants of the building, of course alongside the lead tenants and stewards of the building, Connect to Culture and Spibyth Center for the Arts.

You know, ProMusica is a floating organization and we bring performances all throughout the community. That's not going to change when we move into the center, but it is going to equip us with an incredible new venue and a sense of community and conductiveness in downtown that is going to be tremendously exciting. So for us, it's a really exciting moment as we mark 10 years since the tornado and all of the development that's been happening over downtown. And now, of course, this pandemic, that center is going to be something that we are going to be very thrilled to be a part of in, as you said, the two very short but very long time away years until it's completed. That's why, yeah, Joplin, tornado anniversary coming up 10 year anniversary mid-May later this year. Yeah, I mean, the city has gone through a real transformation since the tornado with the new high school, the new library, the Cornell Complex. I mean, there's a lot to be excited about, I think, with the Cornell Complex and ProMusica

moving into it, of course, with Connect to Culture and the Spibyth Center for the Arts. This seems like a great opportunity to become the executive director of ProMusica, Joplin. So what are your some of your goals and what do you see the future of the organization as? Yeah, I'm very fortunate to receive a lot of positive momentum from our past 41 years. And so a lot of what we're going to be doing is really doubling down on the things that ProMusica does well. In terms of our short-term future, I think we're going to be really focused on preserving the highest quality of performing arts ensembles that we bring in to the region from across the US and internationally. We're also going to be focusing, I think, more on articulating and emphasizing the cultural fabric of the region and of Missouri. There are a lot of living composers, for instance, who reside in or are from Missouri. And we want to be celebrating those folks as well.

So while we're bringing in musicians from outside, we also want to be showing to the outside the cultural assets that we have as a region and as a state. So we're going to be emphasizing, I think, that musical lexicon and some of the talent that we have from the state into our conversation as well. Lastly, I would say that my focus, especially in the role that I'm in, is really focused on cultivating the next generation of classical music lovers. So we're going to be really continuing our commitment to arts education, reaching thousands of young people in the region through our programs, and also focused on cultivating younger and more diverse patrons to join us at our concerts. Jake Yillman, Executive Director of ProMusica, Joplin, thank you for some of your time this morning. Thank you so much.