Paul R. Judy
The Paul R. Judy Center for Innovation and Research is a division of the Institute for Music Leadership at the Eastman School of Music. The Center’s research and programming emphasizes the 21st Century evolution of the innovative ensemble, influenced by both the symphony orchestra and the chamber music traditions, with a focus on creative, artist-centered ensembles that reflect new models of artistic innovation, organizational relationships, and operational sustainability.
Offerings of the Paul R. Judy Center
The Paul R. Judy Center encourages scholars to engage in a new field of research, one that focuses on innovative ensembles, their business models, and their impact on contemporary culture. This is an underrepresented area in music studies that can yield cross-disciplinary results valuable to addressing the real-world problems our musicians face today. This research will provide the basis for new courses and experiential learning opportunities for young musicians. Funding is available via the Paul R. Judy Center Grant Program, which distributes grant awards yearly for projects that relate to innovative ensembles within the following two categories: Research and Innovative Projects.
- The Paul R. Judy Center will sponsor a festival and conference offering discussions, presentations, and performances for scholars, orchestra managers, ensemble administrators, music school leaders, professional musicians, arts entrepreneurs and students.
- The Paul R. Judy Center will produce additional research resources to help young musicians and seasoned professionals alike gain knowledge and skills related to new models of artistic innovation, organizational relationships, and operational sustainability.
- The Paul R. Judy Center supports related courses in the Arts Leadership Program at the Eastman School of Music
Beginnings of the Paul R. Judy Center
In an effort to analyze viable models for successful classical music ensembles, Paul Judy, founder of the Symphony Orchestra Institute and chairman of The Chicago Philharmonic Society, and Emily Wozniak, an Eastman School of Music graduate student, conducted a study of a select group of cooperating professional organizations that appear to be pursuing non-traditional music-making paths and organizational practices. The study was undertaken to better understand what makes these organizations thrive and specifically what they are doing similarly and differently to spur such apparently positive artistic and financial growth and job satisfaction for the performing members. The study then speculates as to how the patterns exhibited by the alternative ensembles might apply to larger-scale music ensembles and organizations. Click here to read the study.