We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Michael Skillern a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Michael, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
The largest risk I’ve taken to date was to move overseas for work. At the time I had never considered moving overseas. But, a chance connection on Facebook ended with me crossing the Pacific in search of something new. My mother had just died. I had completed two unsuccessful contracts at jobs in Atlanta. I was also battling personal struggles that were stifling my career as a concert percussionist. I wasn’t sure what I needed. But I knew I needed something else. 1 year later, I married my wife Kim, and she joined me. That Facebook connection remains one of my best friends to date. If you’re reading this, you know who you are.
As a traveller this risk has taken me to China, UAE, The Netherlands, France, The UK, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia to name a few. My initial job was to take over a young band and middle school music program in Xian, China. This opportunity led to an addition partnership with the Shaanxi Provincial Arts Commission heading a piece of their education division. Then, we took another risk by moving to the United Arab Emirates. Here, I took a Head of Music position opening a brand new school on behalf of one of the Sheikhs of Sharjah, UAE. All of this while managing a partnership with Indian Music and Arts conglomerate Furtados. My entrance into the international teaching community led to me becoming the Co-Founder of the EdTech startup CommonTime Online. I also joined the National Symphony Orchestra UAE as principal timpanist. Through all of these travels I have also performed extensively across China, Bahrain, India, The United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Germany, Hong Kong, the United States and The Philippines. I never would have thought I would touch ears and lives in 3 continents.
This risk opened me up to so much. Everyday I show gratitude to my past self for showing such fearlessness.
Michael, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Michael Skillern. I am Head of Music at American Gulf School in Sharjah, UAE. I am a co-founder of the groundbreaking EdTech startup CommonTime Online. I am Principal Timpanist of the National Symphony Orchestra UAE, a Teaching Artist with Vic Firth, and an Adjunct Professor at Allen University. Most importantly I am a husband to my wife Kim and a father to my daughter Millie.
Today’s Michael began forming in the 10th grade, in Columbus, Georgia. After helping to rehearse fellow members of my high school’s marching band. At this point I decided I wanted to teach and play Music forever. From there, I focused everything into playing percussion and learning to teach music. As a freelancer I always had a business mind but had never taken actionable steps to pursue this. Until, I joined the startup team at CommonTime Online. Now, I’ve merged my love for teaching, playing, creativity, and business into my current work identity.
As for CommonTime, we’re a virtual artist booking, arts education, arts experience, events, video conferencing and community building platform increasing access to arts worldwide at a low cost. We work to connect artists, educators, individual learners, and arts organizations through a seamless platform to achieve the following goals: Artists can use the platform to monetize live streamed performances, classes, recitals, webinars, etc; Educators can book world class musicians, artists, dancers, and actors to come into their classes and teach/perform worldwide; we give individual learners an easy to use platform for finding arts lessons with faculty from around the world; and arts organizations can expand their outreach through ticketed live streams to our international user base. Likewise, we support Arts education through our blog, curated events, professional development and more. As co-founder, I am most proud of the partnerships we have been able to build with an international roster of arts and education organizations. Through these partnerships we have supported countless educators and engaged thousands of students that may not be able to access arts experiences otherwise. We are working to expand these partnerships, and will not stop, until access to art education and experiences are no longer reserved for the rich.
Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)
I work everyday to empower artists. So, from this lens I believe that NFTs have an unbelievable opportunity to help artists monetize their art in a new way. The pathway into the visual art world is currently being gatekept by the establishment. But, as with most decentralized technology, Artists now have a pathway to the world of being a professional artist that didn’t exist before.
Now as for the financial implications of NFTs/crypto I am nowhere near smart enough to comment.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
I think the best thing we can do is to realize the power of the creative economy. The Arts make up around 10% of the world’s GDP. Every person on Earth experiences art everyday from movies, to clothes, to car designs, to culinary arts. Everything we do, use and consume is touched by an artist yet we constantly discourage our kids that want to pursue ‘non-stable careers’. This is even more important for the developing world. We often focus on natural resources when speaking on developing nations. For example, oil is only around 3% of the global GDP compared to 10% for the Arts. With CommonTime, musicians, dancers, dramatists, and artists from indigenous cultures can earn income sharing their art with the world. The arts are ANY communities single greatest export. Once this is realized, lives will change. We hope that this thought shift will take place on CommonTime.
So, what can we do to support the creative economy. (1) Continue and preserve the traditions and cultures of your village. Keep cooking your grandmothers food, sing the songs your father sang to you, continue the crafts you learned from your mother, etc.; (2) encourage our youth to participate in and monetize their love for the arts and ;(3) intentionally support local indigenous art forms. Attend your local play house. Patronize your local museums. Go to those festivals. Learn about the indigenous cultures of the land you current occupy. Realize the economic power of creativity.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.michaelskillern.com
- Instagram: @michaelstradition
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michaelrskillern
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-skillern-mm-171ab7150/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBE17KRbT3SlOaPerbQ4DgQ
Image Credits
One image is courtesy of Melody House Musical Instruments. The others are owned by me.