We were lucky to catch up with James Rosenberger recently and have shared our conversation below.

James, appreciate you joining us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

Angela, I learned early on, to earn a living from creative work meant constantly re-inventing yourself as markets and opportunities present themselves. Having first received an MFA as a Classical Actor, you quickly learn how to diversify and generate opportunities beyond your training and embrace the “wisdom of insecurity.” Qualifying for Actors Equity and SAG/AFTRA memberships opened new professional opportunities in both stage and on camera productions. My Dad, who built a successful construction business always reminded me to “make yourself necessary to somebody.” Suddenly, “show business” meant both putting on a show and learning how to succeed as a self-employed person. In 1978 I founded SPACES, Cleveland, Ohio, the state’s oldest multidisciplinary arts center. Simultaneously seeking work in broadcast radio, TV and film production led to work in front of and behind the camera. After working for the National Film Board and CBC Radio in Canada and next at the Playhouse in the Park in Cincinnati, a new door opened: corporate sponsored media and live events. Investing in yourself sometimes means stretching beyond your comfort zone taking on risks not covered in textbooks.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

After college and graduate school, becoming a teacher seemed an obvious choice for a future–primarily due to my parents’ insistence I graduate with degrees which would lead to a “real job.”  Fortunately Angela, my liberal arts training gave me the confidence to try new things– to be proactive and to challenge the conventional; in short, to try and do something no one else was doing. To paraphrase the organizational psychologist Adam Grant, I had to choose courage over comfort and admit “I don’t know what I don’t know.” It also meant seeking mentors and collaborators who would encourage and offer complimentary skills.  My theatrical skills now helped to differentiate me with Fortune 500 companies like P&G, LensCrafters and Cintas who hired me to create original, live events programming and develop strategic storytelling. This mixture of my arts and teaching background in collaboration with other business and technology experts led to interactive media training, Public Relations and Marketing campaigns and even using cable television as a new form of distributing content.  My big break came when these efforts were chronicled in the seminal 1983 cable tv book “Cultivating The Wasteland” by Kirsten Beck.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Creating and producing live media events with artists like Graham Nash, Riders in the Sky, The Bobs and William Shatner also led to a PBS special from which the resulting DVD won the INTERCOM International Film Festival award in 2002.  Next up were TV bookings in Germany and France—then I hit a wall. Without realizing it Angela, I started to experience burn-out after a great 35-year corporate career. Doing similar projects over and over again just to make money, became a dead end. Having recently lost my Dad after a long struggle with Parkinson’s and my Mom from ALS, nothing inspired me. Then I discovered “therapeutic music and storytelling”, which was in its infancy in the Midwest but active on both the East and West coasts. Continuing to work on corporate projects to help pay the bills bought me the time to learn, develop and practice a program and services for the underserved Senior market, which I named Audible Therapies in 2006. I chose this name after learning the sense of hearing is the first to develop in the womb and the last to leave us when we die. It became time to do “dialing for dollars” to see if there was a new calling and business opportunity. Trying to introduce and promote a new and unknown music and storytelling service was an uphill effort at best. Was I going to read stories from a book? Couldn’t a boom box with Big Band era recordings get the same results? These familiar comments lasted a year but I persisted.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Angela, can you imagine—no proven track record, something unfamiliar– who wanted to find new $$$ from limited Activities budgets for the unknown? I had to find new clients who would trust me to do something different. As Dad used to say “all it takes is one.” I started offering a one-time showcase for little or no money as a proof of concept. In 2010 I became a Clinically Certified Therapeutic Musician and worked with the Alois Alzheimer’s Center at their hospice settings, playing one-on-one at bedside with people who were in the process of actively dying. After 300 phone calls, one client became 3 and then in a year came 10 bookings a month. Prior to the pandemic, Audible Therapies was visiting 18 communities a month, reaching over 9,000 residents a year!?! Then covid hit– I lost 85% of my bookings in a month. But after taking a deep breath, out of nowhere one client said, “do you know how to do a Zoom call?” Suddenly all those years in TV, streaming media and knowing how to be on camera, I had a new competitive edge.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jamesrosenberger.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/audibletherapies
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesrosenberger/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCo4nTAJHPWiH3cnmui3axBw

Image Credits
All photos: “copyright 2023 maxxmedia+events LLC”