Student Blog: A Swag Bag of Spring Entertainment - Frosty's World 12

There are iconic spring images on the Baldwin Wallace University campus; the tulips poking up towards the spring sunshine, the pizza delivery cars blanketing the campus at night, and the baseball team working out on the bright green artificial turf. Other scenes are a reminder that the pandemic is still with us. Last week, scary hordes of masked young people were stalking the campus. The targets of these college marauders were Easter eggs. The leaders of the Baldwin Wallace University Student Affairs team managed to hide 500 plastic eggs. There were no chocolate candies this year, lucky winners scored gift certificates. I wasn't one of the lucky ones to find an egg, but I'm guessing that you might be able to buy chocolate with the gift certificates.

Each year, the Baldwin Wallace University's Arts Management Association and University faculty sponsor a two-day career networking event. This year's installment pivoted to a virtual format, which facilitated the participation of some stellar speakers. A key element of every networking event, the swag bag, was not virtual, whew!

The keynote address was given by Michael Kaiser, the internationally renowned arts "turnaround king." Kaiser is a career administrator who spent 13 years as president of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He started out as a business consultant to General Motors and IBM, but later focused exclusively on the arts scene. His long career has touched every aspect of performing arts, including the Kansas City Ballet, the American Ballet Theatre and London's Royal Opera House. It would be hard to find someone who has done more to promote the arts of Broadway across America. His first act as leader of the Kennedy Center was producing the Sondheim Celebration -- breaking ticket sales records and winning the kudos of theater critics.

Kaiser's participation in our college event is not surprising when you consider that, over the last year, he donated over 400 hours of free business consultation to arts organizations across the world. He described many successes that occurred during this pandemic, as arts groups reached new audiences through online formats. Kaiser encouraged students to participate in arts-related school clubs or start a club if none are available. He emphasized the importance of continued crisis planning to arts institutions. He also recommends that arts organizations hire college students to post social media -- yea!!

It is always encouraging to hear the stories of Baldwin Wallace University alumni who make it big in the arts field. Ben Meadors, who holds Baldwin Wallace University undergraduate and MBA degrees, reviewed his career path and current role as Manager of Postproduction Technology at Spotify. It was fascinating to hear how his organization prospered during the pandemic, growing over 30% from the prior year up to 130 million users. Many of these users have switched to streaming at home; they no longer are making long auto commutes to work. Meadors discussed the production of Spotify Wrapped and Spotify Concerts and a new company emphasis on podcasts.

Streaming events provided a great theater fix over the last few weeks. The off-Broadway acting company Seize the Show has produced wonderful content over a clever, interactive platform for cell phones and Zoom desktop. The platform (Gamiotics) allows live theatrical audiences to drive the narrative of the show in real-time and engage in mini-games along the way. Their production of That Night at Gatsby's last week included elements of virtual dating sim games combined with the usual F. Scott Fitzgerald characters. The Gatsby-inspired costumes were a visual treat, and the performers were amazing, modifying the script on the fly!

Have you heard of the music group, Postmodern Jukebox? The band with 1 billion YouTube views and 5 million YouTube subscribers? My fandom predates the pandemic. Powerhouse Scott Bradlee's musical cavalcade of stars has sold me too many t-shirts, books and posters since I attended their outdoor show at Cleveland's Jacob's Pavilion at Nautica stage, just a few miles from campus. By the way, the concert was held in a torrential rainstorm.

To say that Bradlee leads a cover band is an understatement. If you don't believe me watch singer Ariana Savalas and dancer Sarah Reich perform a 1920's style cover of Lady Gaga's Bad Romance with the Postmodern Jukebox crew. (Yes, Ariana is the daughter of Telly Savalas.) After the initial shock, I guarantee that the arrangement will stick in your mind! Bradlee sponsors live online sessions, the most recent one performed from his front yard. No rainstorm. Were it not for him, I would never have become a huge fan of singers Aubrey Logan, Kenton Chen and bassist Adam Kubota. If you encounter Bradlee's music with the "One Woman Band," Gunhild Carling (her cover of Pharrell Williams' Happy is a good example) prepare to be rendered speechless.

I was thrilled to be an audience participant in the Clubhouse platform chat and performance of Freestyle Love Supreme on March 21st. The award-winning Broadway producers, Jenny Steingart and Randi Zuckerberg collaborated to bring the show to life. Steingart had been a co-producer of Hulu's "We are Freestyle Love Supreme" which introduced the group as the forerunner of Broadway's Hamilton to a broad audience.

The Clubhouse event offered fans the chance to contribute to the show by submitting improv trigger words and featured a question-and-answer period at the conclusion. I asked the performers (Anthony Veneziale, Aneesa Folds and Chris Sullivan) about the methods that they use to pump up in the minutes prior to going on stage for their Broadway performances -- and got a variety of answers! Listening to drumbeats, the music of John Coltrane or reading poet Sarah Kay were tactics that help the performers mix music and words in their unique way. Maybe these tactics can be employed during semester finals week.

Oh, and I forgot to list a critical Baldwin Wallace University campus hot tip. Unless there is snow on the ground, do not park a car near Bob Fisher Baseball Field.

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