We were lucky to catch up with Larry Brechner recently and have shared our conversation below.
Larry, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear the story of how you went from this being just an idea to making it into something real.
After retiring from an over 40 year career in theater (facility management/show producing/directing),
I was already very involved on various arts and media boards of director.
I had done an 18-month stint consulting for setting up a local university’s new theater facilities rental operations. Also doing some guest lecturing for another university. Since 1993, I was an on-air/on-camera pledge host for our local PBS station and later also on their local NPR station (I served on the board of directors since 2000 and currently am the board chair).
A small radio station in Valparaiso had an opening for a pair of hosts for a show Art On The Air. The show was a weekly, hour-long show focused almost exclusively of visual art in the city. The show was live in the studio and then I sent the edited show to Lakeshore Public Media (radio) for rebroadcast. This also allowed our show to be found as a podcast on their platform and by extension NPR. I also published the show as podcast on most platforms.
My co-host and I sought guests to reach out beyond visual arts (music, authors, culture) plus with the wider audience range on Lakeshore, reached out to a broader regional audience.
With Covid shutting down the live radio studio, we had to think how to deliver our weekly, hour-long radio show. I already had a small home Voice-Over studio set-up, so with my co-host and guests phoning into my studio, we were able to continue to produce our show. The game changer was using ZOOM, that allowed us to not only see our guests, but it had a higher quality audio than the landline phone. We were now able to schedule our guests to record their segment.
Covid also caused us to re-format the show itself. Initially, we read a local arts event calendar during the first 10 minutes or so of our show, then interviewed our guest in the remaining 45 minutes. Reading a list on radio is not very interesting (a format we inherited from the previous hosts). So we replaced the list with a 7-minute spotlight interview about a single event. The other change was splitting the remaining 46 minutes into two interview segments. We found that most guests had enough of a narrative to sustain 23 minutes, though on occasion we would still do a full 46 minute interview with appropriate guests. So each week we really have three guests for every show.
We are in our 7th season having just published our 368th show. Also, Art On The Air is the most downloaded radio show as a podcast from Lakeshore Public Media with usually 500-600 per month, plus and an additional 500-1000 on Tune In and other platforms. While we still keep a focus on local arts and culture, we have an ever growing roster of national and international celebrity guests (David Arkenstone, Béla Fleck, Wouter Kellerman, Feliz Calveriere, Jessica Lynn, BJ Leiderman, Kenny White, Clay Jenkinsen, Terry O’Reilly).
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?
Wherever I have been planted, I developed a strong brand for my endeavors or organizations. Presentation is everything. Also being professional is more than a paycheck or just a career – it is the way of presenting yourself and your working a manner that says quality. I stressed this point especially when working with my students on various concerts and shows – we call it the “P” word.
One of my personal philosophies in working with people – “Only promise what you can deliver – but always deliver what you promise.”
BIO
With over 40 years of professional and educational theatrical experience, Larry “LAB” retired in 2016 as the Auditorium/Theater Company Producer Director (administrator) for the School Town of Munster. He previously worked as the Theatre Administrator for The Center for Visual and Performing Arts, including as the Production Manager/Resident Lighting Designer for The Center’s resident professional Equity theater for six years. Larry also served as the Auditorium Director and Producer/Director for the Highland Theatre Company for 13 years at Highland’s Monbeck Auditorium.
Over his entire career, Larry has produced/directed a total of 230 theatrical productions (mostly musicals), and as Auditorium Director/Lighting Designer he has done 300 professional/community concert events and over 1000 school concert/events. He was a founding member of the Main Square Players also serving as its resident technical director/lighting designer, and for the Northwest Indiana Opera Theater board and resident lighting designer.
In 2016, Larry was inducted into the Indiana Thespian Hall of Fame recognizing his over 31 years as an outstanding theater educator/director. In 2010 Purdue University Calumet honored him with the Alumni Leadership Award recognizing outstanding alumni from various fields of study, and in 1997 with the Distinguished Corporate/Community Service Award.
In 2007, Larry earned his Doctor of Fine Arts in Theatre Studies with concentrations in musical theater production/direction, small theater operations, and stage lighting design. His Masters and Bachelors degrees are in Communications with concentrations in broadcast production and performance from Purdue University Calumet (now Purdue University Northwest). He served for 10 years as an adjunct professor for Calumet College and as has served as a Guest Lecturer for Purdue Northwest in Westville.
Larry is a recognized fine art photographer with numerous exhibits and awards to his credit. His artistic photography work is mostly in landscapes, scenic, nature, wildlife, still life, buildings, nautical themes, plus includes abstract figure studies and aerial work. Larry’s work is exhibited in galleries throughout Northwest Indiana, Suburban Chicago and Southwest Michigan plus appears in several private collections, in several regional calendars, and part of advertising and billboard campaigns. Outside of his fine art work he does portrait, performer headshots, event and other commercial client photography.
In October 2021, he had a 70-piece exhibit, “Through Our Eyes – A Retrospective Exhibit featuring the Photographic Visions of Larry A Brechner and Carol Lynn Brechner” at the Chesterton Art Center.
Larry is an instrument-rated commercial pilot, drone pilot, a Life-time Voting Member for the Grammy Awards since 1980 from his days of owning a small recording studio. Larry currently serves on art or media association boards including: Chesterton Art Center, WVLP, Regional Arts Council, and as board chair for Lakeshore Public Media (TV/Radio) also serving there as an on-air TV/Radio pledge host since 1993.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I was serving as the Auditorium Director managing this 1400 seat faculty, its student staff for about 50 in-house and rental events. The staff was organized along a professional structure with job applications, interviews and reviews. The school system had two separate theater producing groups – a “drama club” and the choir musical who were often at odds with each other. With changes desired by the administration, the director for the drama club stepped down and they wanted the musical to be open auditions for the whole school.
I was approached about who would direct the club and in short order also the musical. So not having actually directed shows before, but having worked as technical director/lighting designer on numerous our productions, I stepped up to the challenge. With my background in music, a strong intuitive sense of staging a musical, my already existing technical theater skills, and a strong ability to effectively communicate with a cast, crew, and colleagues, I ventured forth. Not liking the “Them-Us” situation that had existed, I formed the “Theatre Company” that united both the old drama club and choir musical into a single producing organization. From this transformative experience I went on to produce and direct over 230 very successful productions during my career.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
In whatever creative pursuits I am engaged, I try to give my full energy to that project or endeavor.
Because of my involvement in several ventures many times at the same time, and while many times circumstances dictate otherwise, I find it best to focus on a single project as much as possible.
The goal is always to produce the best possible result. I like to consider myself as a Practical Perfectionist,
something I learned from the deadlines of theater. Nothing in the creative arts are perfect, and while as a goal to be strived for is always admirable, the becomes a point of practically when like I like to say about a project – “Done is Good.” In theater I used the standard of is it audience invisible? Will it add to or subtract from a production? The same standard I apply in my other creative pursuits. In attempting to achieve perfection, am I best using my creative energies to tunnel into the minutiae of a project, or finally declare, “Done is Good.”
Contact Info:
- Website: https://brech.com/aota/index.html
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artontheairnwi/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/larry.brechner/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/larry-a-brechner-ma-dfa-142a123a/
- Twitter: https://x.com/DoctorLAB3
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD9zfit7wNtxOdR2v0lY5eQ
- Other: https://brech.com/np/
https://brech.com/theater/index.html
https://brech.com/host/
https://bsky.app/profile/doctorlab.bsky.social
Image Credits
All photos owned by Larry A Brechner