We recently connected with Cassidy Carlson Fitzpatrick and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Cassidy thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with education – we’d love to hear your thoughts about how we can better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career.
In classical music education, traditionally technical preparation has been at the forefront of all training. New World Symphony (NWS) from its founding responded to a need for aspiring young professional musicians, for additional skills. They were pre-professionals who needed the ensemble experience to be successful in their chosen careers of orchestral musicians.
The continuing equity and access issues in our educational system, combined with COVID19, has fueled this moment of opportunity for positive change in our sector and many others. Classical musicians, like anyone else, want strong, thriving, and inclusive communities. They want happy, fulfilling, and financially stable lives. At NWS we endeavor to give them as many tools, as much practice, and confidence building skills to emerge knowing that they can create the life that they have envisioned.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
After growing up studying music throughout school and college, I emerged into the workforce during the great recession of 2008 I found a job as a paralegal and contemplated law school. Though I realized I enjoyed working in the public interest, I did not want to be a lawyer and as I thought about what was truly important to me, I thought about the role of music and the arts in my life.
I found my first job in arts in administration with Boston Lyric Opera working in the artistic administration and development departments. In 2012, I moved to Miami to take a job with Florida Grand Opera and at that point, I realized that I was not as interesting in producing art as I was in making it accessible and sharing it with the community. I joined New World Symphony in 2013 and worked primarily in community engagement until 2018 when I stepped into a role overseeing both community engagement and entrepreneurship training. While working at NWS, I pursued my MBA from the University of Florida part-time and completed it in 2017. Currently I serve as the Senior Vice President for Musician Advancement and Dean at and develop, implement, and evaluate the curriculum, including orchestral and instrumental training, community and entrepreneurial programs, and the Fellowship experience. Additionally, I oversee the admissions and alumni activities of NWS. There is no institution like NWS that I’ve experienced. We provide a comprehensive experience for the 21st century musician: performance, community and audience engagement, leadership entrepreneurship, wellness (both physical and mental), equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging workshops and training, and utilizing cutting edge technology to advance all of these areas.
I am most proud of my beautiful family, my daughter, husband, and our rescue cat and dog. I’ve completed 2 full marathons and 6 half marathons. With regards to NWS, my proudest moments are when the Fellows have lightbulb moments that they are capable of achieving everything they’ve imagined or realizing what their new ambition is. They are remarkably talented, creative, and thoughtful individuals I am proud that I am able to support them on their journeys.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I have always been a thoughtful, logistics, process, and detail oriented person. At a certain point in my early career, I had to learn that sometimes (if not most of the time) focusing on people and relationships is the most important and valuable investment of time.
The backstory is that in my reviews and feedback, I was consistently getting praised for good work and efficiency but receiving constructive criticism that I was moving ahead without buy-in or working in isolation when a team really needed to be involved. I have the good fortune to be working on a program that provided leadership coaching and learned about my own communication, leadership, and defensive styles. That learning was a pivotal moment in my career development.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
My first job in Miami was not a great fit for me for many reasons and I left that job without another one lined up. For me, those two months of unemployment were the most stressful period in my adult life. I networked. I did informational interviews, and wrote and rewrote countless cover letters and resumes. I was not sure if I was on the right path, but in the end, NWS was a much better fit for me personally and professionally so after the stress came relief.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @fitzcassidy
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cassidy.fitzpatrick.3/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassidy-fitzpatrick-carlson-75513832/