The Kaufman Music Center (KMC) presents music programs for students, performers, and audiences alike with its intimate performance space Merkin Hall and the Special Music School – among other things. It is the premier destination for learning and listening to music in New York City. The center is constantly cultivating and nurturing new generations of artists, inspiring both the young and old to learn instruments and turn their passion for music into a career.
Kate Sheeran – the Executive Director for KMC – spoke about the many initiatives she has helped create, providing insight into the center, her favorite things about it, and holding such a high position of power.
Kaufman Music Center believes “Music is essential to the human experience and a vital component of education for everyone,” showcasing that mission with its variety of programming. Merkin Hall – the Center’s intimate performance venue – provides access to today’s most compelling artists, competitions, and workshops. Other programs, like Artist-in-Residence, give performers resources to develop groundbreaking protects and educational opportunities to mentor and inspire the Special Music School students; New York’s only K-12 public school prioritizing musically-focused education without financial barriers.
Executive Director Kate Sheeran handles a lot in her day-to-day life at KMC. “My overall position is overseeing the entirety of the organization, obviously in conjunction with our board of trustees, and on any given day, that can mean a number of things. It’s overseeing how the building works and working with a team; making sure that we’re sticking to our mission of giving as much access to as many people as possible to music, whether it’s as audience member or student or various other things. But on any given day, you can find me in or out of the building doing all kinds of things,” she explained.
In her personal life, she is a professional French horn player, attending school for performance – learning educational and leadership skills along the way. She has performed with a wide range of ensembles including Ensemble Signal, The Wordless Music Orchestra, Alarm Will Sound, Ensemble LPR, and the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra. As a student of music, she can put herself in other people’s shoes and create programming and events to better serve the community.
The building staff are surrounded by students and audience members of all ages. Students as young as four up to their 80s come to the center to learn, while new and old audience members enjoy the magic that is the Kaufman Center. “I love to pop down to a classroom and see young class learning, you know, a new lesson for the first time. Sometimes even sneak into the balcony to watch a dress rehearsal to get to see everything happening,” she added.
Kaufman Music Center has only been led by women since its origins in 1952. Kate is the third of three; her predecessor was in the leadership role for 40 years, and hers before that was also there for decades. “It’s very natural to have a woman at the helm and it makes for very efficient activities and it makes my job even more joyful,” she explained.
Faced with adversity as a young woman in a male-dominated industry, Kate explained that finding allies and mentors helped her network and move into her many career paths. She was inspired and motivated as the Provost and Dean of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in San Francisco when a grad student said she saw herself in Kate. “I hope we see an ever-increasing amount of women in positions up and down in the music industry,” she explained.
Find the work that you think is interesting, whether it’s an artist or someone running an organization – learn about that organization…Ask questions. I think a lot of my careers were shaped by just asking lots and lots of questions – so don’t be afraid if you have questions, probably someone else in the room or someone else has that question too. Try different things. Sometimes I thought that my career would go one way and I tried something else and then that ended up being the right thing. Instead of waiting for the perfect thing to come along, try something that might be a little different; it usually leads to a pretty interesting outcome.
Advice from Kate Sheeran.
Under the stewardship of Kate, KMC has implemented various transformative initiatives including the introduction of The Musical Storefronts Project. Split over two seasons during the COVID-19 pandemic, this project produced over 200 safe concerts for the community and provided employment opportunities for professional artists when traditional concert halls were closed. “Thousands of people showed up over these 200 concerts. It was really interesting to have all artists home in New York City. When does that happen that people aren’t on tour? We had classical musicians and Broadway and jazz people singing pop tunes…you just saw hundreds of musicians pouring their hearts out after being home and not being able to do that.”
Since the pandemic, she says she sees more people buying last-minute tickets and concerts are still well populated. More adults are learning instruments and joining ensembles. Also, KCM has more artist connections from the pandemic, fostering more diversity.
She also spearheaded the newly launched Pathways Program, which offers students tuition-free weekly private instrumental lessons and group classes, as well as access to masterclasses, workshops, and performances. School, which is the largest of the community art schools in New York. We do music, theater, and dance for about 2500 students every year and we try to give as much scholarship as we can to those with financial needs, so that access is really paramount for us,” she explained.
Within the NYC Public system, KMC runs the Special Music School, providing music education with free lessons and instruments; some of the kids that join the program are as young as four or five. Kate explained, “In New York City, a lot of students, more students who have access to instruments, tend to pick string instruments or piano. Other places are the opposite; we’re starting with winds and brass to build that from eight years old when students usually start those instruments and grow the pool of students who can go on to high school for music and college and we hope to professional life.”
Kate Sheeran is also responsible for starting the Artists-in-Residence program (now in its fifth year) – which gives performers the resources to develop multidisciplinary projects as well as educational opportunities to mentor and inspire. From masterclasses to imaginative performance experiences, they can be on stage at Merkin Hall, in the classrooms, and out in the community participating in dynamic and engaging learning experiences with students across the programs. “We’re bringing in artists to inspire our community and especially our students. But the flip ends up happening just as quickly that the artist is inspired by the younger people or by the audience members, and doing projects with the students,” Kate said.
In terms of age and demographic and style and everything we have in our New York City public school, they can all find mentors that look or sound like them or have careers they might want to model. And to me, that’s the magic because it kind of demystifies what it is to be a musician and they get to know these artists as people – that is magical. I think that’s just so important and it’s inspiring to see that that’s happening whether people may know about it or not know about it.
Kate Sheeran
From the day-to-day operations to making the magic happen for the hundreds of students at KMC, Kate Sheeran’s ability to cultivate diverse and inspiring programming for young and old is something to be admired.
For more information about the Kaufman Music Center and to purchase tickets to upcoming events, visit here.
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