Name: Stella O
Hometown: Hong Kong
Year in School: Second Year MAAA Student
Q: How did you come to find yourself at the MAAA program?
A: When I first left Hong Kong I attended a program for violin performance in Tennessee but my parents wanted me to do a double major in business management and violin performance. That drove me crazy because at my 9 a.m. class we’d be talking about numbers and at 10 a.m., music theory. I couldn’t handle it and then my friend, who was here at IU studying at Jacobs School of Music, suggested I think about the undergraduate arts management program here. I transferred here two semesters before I was set to graduate from my former school. It’s been a whole new journey for me. I finally know what I want to do with my life.
Q: How long were you a violinist? Do you still play?
A: I started when I was 5. I still play when I have to. I was at Aspen Music Festival for two summers and in the summer of 2019 I brought my violin with me because I knew that something was going to happen. There was an acapella group, Seraphic Fire, that needed a small orchestra to play for them after the festival had concluded and all the students had left. I actually got to play with them onstage.
Q: What work were you doing at Aspen Music Festival?
A: I was the front desk receptionist for two summers. It was so much fun. People always think that front desk receptionist is a position where you’ll sit at the desk all day and do practically nothing but actually it’s not. You have to take care of everyone and everything. It was so fun.
Q: What are your thoughts about graduating in May? How are you feeling?
A: I have been thinking of many things, actually. I actually like Operations a lot. I would love to go down the Operations route and work my way up and maybe even run my own orchestra. I like seeing things happen so doing Operations is basically where you’re making things happen every single minute and that’s what I like. It suits me well.
Q: There’s a lot of misconception around what Arts Administration is. How do you explain it to your family or people you may meet that don’t understand what “Arts Administration” means?
A: I explain it in many different ways to different people in different ways. To my parents I will say “I’m selling musicians.” They are business people so that’s how they understand it. And that makes them feel comfortable when I say that. If I tell them that I’m the bridge between musicians and audiences, my parents will be like “no, you are not doing this.”
To someone off the street that would ask me what I’m studying here in Bloomington, I would just say that I’m studying Arts Administration and it’s a program to make the world better.
Q: And how would you explain Arts Administration to a ten year old?
A: I’m the magician behind the scenes.
Q: What’s been your favorite part of the program thus far?
A: I like the whole program as a whole. There are moments of each class that I’ve loved but Doug Booher’s class really sticks out to me. It’s a really fun one. When we were doing the group project we had to do a lot of research and planning and we had to make good decisions. There was a lot of troubleshooting before we went on the agency call (to simulate booking a show at the IU Auditorium). So that class was really fun.
Q: What’s been the most challenging part of the program thus far?
A: Definitely Dr. Rushton’s classes because of the way he thinks and explains things is so conceptual. I love his classes but when I have to put reality and his concepts together it sometimes has conflicts. It’s hard to explain. When I have to put his concepts into a realistic case, I don’t feel like I can explain it that well. That sometimes troubles me.
Q: What advice would you give to fellow peers and fellow arts administrators?
A: I would definitely recommend getting in an accounting class. I felt very lucky that I took an accounting class before I took our financial management class because I think it’s really necessary. If you don’t understand the basics of accounting, it’s very hard for you to understand financial management. And if you don’t understand financial management it will be really hard for you to run an orchestra or an arts organization.
Q: What’s on your arts and culture bucket list?
A: My bucket list keeps growing! I really wanna go see Moulin Rouge. It’s touring in Chicago. It’s my favorite movie.
I love Aspen Music Festival. They depend heavily on summer staff and I love how they treat them. I love their diversity. The whole environment is really nice there so it’s my favorite of all time and if I ever get the chance to go back I will definitely go back.
And actually, I used to hate Mendelssohn Violin Concerto because when I was about to learn it myself all of my friends were also playing it too. It was so overdone and I just got so tired of it but when I was at Aspen, Augustin Hadelich performed it and it was mind blowing. Just blew me away.
Q: Favorite work of art (any art form, genre)
A: I really, really like Shostakovich Piano Quintet.