We recently connected with Macy Schmidt and have shared our conversation below.

Macy, appreciate you joining us today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?

I never fantasize about having a “regular” job, and highly value the freedom and authority of lifestyle that comes with being an artist / creative. However, I think often about what it would be like to have more equity and ownership in my work, or to work in a way where my income is not tied directly to hours spend creatively laboring. This has, for me, introduced a third option: starting businesses. It’s not a “regular job” by any means, and I’ve always had difficulty conforming underneath corporate structures or working under the thumb of someone else, but it also provides a lane of financial, business, and wealth-building opportunity that isn’t always associated with being a work-for-hire creative. Combining my artist/creative work with operating my own business that creates jobs for other women musicians has been, by far, the most fulfilling work of my life and I wouldn’t change it for anything.

Macy, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I first moved to New York very young, right after my freshman year of college, where I was studying Music Theory. I dreamed of doing orchestrations for Broadway musicals, but didn’t know where to start. After a year or working to build relationships with Music Supervisors and Music Directors, I entered the Music Assistant circuit up until the pandemic hit, working on Broadway shows and developmental labs.

The pandemic was for me, as I’m sure it was for many others, a massive reset in evaluating how I spend my time, and what kind of impact I want to have. It was as if I’d been blindly in a hamster wheel up until that point, and it was only the wide open space and time during lockdown that allowed me to think a little bigger about what I wanted to say as an artist. Amidst charged industry-wide conversations about the murder of George Floyd, the persistent racial and gender inequity on Broadway, and a performative activism problem, I founded the Sinfonietta, which originated as a high quality music video of my arrangement “You’re Gonna Hear From Me,” featuring Solea Pfeiffer on vocals and an orchestra of all women and almost entirely women of color. It elicited such a strong response from the industry that the orchestra started working steadily as a recording orchestra for brands, companies, and even full scale musicals. As the world opened up again in fall 2021, we began doing countless live events. That year, I was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 for my work with the Sinfonietta.

As it turned out, tuning out the outside noise to create my own table was the very thing that ultimately got me invited to the tables I’d once craved acceptance from: in 2022, I became the first (and only) woman of color orchestrator in Broadway history for my additional orchestrations on Kimberly Akimbo.

In 2022, the Sinfonietta took some big steps forward as a headlining artist, signing a record deal with Sony and making our live full orchestra debut presented by Carnegie Hall, performing a program of my own arrangements for the orchestra. Now, in 2023, my work has expanded quite a bit as an entrepreneur. I’ve begun consulting and advising for entertainment ventures, producing more, and am building two new businesses right now that I’m very passionate about. This past month, I made my Broadway producing debut as a co-producer on the revival of PARADE starring Ben Platt and Micaela Diamond. The Sinfonietta has expanded into international markets, as well as into Sinfonietta Productions, and will launch a Foundation this summer.

What I’m most proud of: Building something out of nothing — more specifically, creating jobs where there were not jobs before.

What I want readers to know about my work: I am an artist who has desperately craved acceptance by the “traditional” routes and leaders of my field, only to find time and time again that the greatest artistic and financial fulfillment in my work has come from building out a new route that didn’t exist before, and being bold with vision and execution of creative and business ideas.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Right now, the next big mission driving my journey is finding a way to create more generational wealth for artists and creatives (and especially women and people of color). I feel like many people, both in and outside of the industry, don’t realize that for work-for-hire creatives, we rarely own our own work. I think this is a huge problem that isn’t getting enough attention, and I’m spending this next season of my career exploring solutions to help change it.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Empower artists to step into their powers as businesspeople. Never ask artists to work for “exposure.” Recognize the entertainment industry as the multi-billion dollar economic stimulant that it is, rather than as a “hobby” for starving artists. I would love to see other industries (particularly brands, advertising, marketing, corporate finance, etc) embrace more open partnership with arts & entertainment and seek out paths of mutual benefit between industries.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.macyschmidtmusic.com
• Instagram: @macyjschmidt
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/macyschmidt/
• Other: https://www.thebroadwaysinfonietta.com

Image Credits
Rebecca J Michelson, Evan Zimmerman, Colin Baldwin, Em Char, Michael Reynolds