Professional Development: Field Trips

Professional development trips contribute to PMP’s mission of promoting community and idea exchange among arts organizations in Philadelphia. PMP generally sponsors such trips once a year.

Lincoln Center Festival 2006
July 12 through July 16, 2006
PMP's annual large-scale professional development trip took about twenty leaders from the area's music and arts community to New York from July 12 to 16, 2006 for a whirlwind trip including four performances, four related panel discussions, and a tour of public art on Coney Island. Three of the performances and two of the discussions were produced by this year's Lincoln Center Festival. As ever, trip participants debated the merits of each event and found much commend or contest. Members of the group, which this year included representatives from the dance and visual arts sectors, made several promising connections and took advantage of the opportunity to reflect on their fields on both local and national levels.

Spring 2006 Ruunouts: the Princeton Laptop Orchestra and New Strategies with DJ Spooky
During the first week of April 2006, PMP took two "runout" trips to innovative music events. Both events focused on the rising influence of electronics in concert music. The first, on Tuesday, April 4, was the Princeton Laptop Orchestra, cleverly nicknamed PLOrk. The second, on Thursday, April 6, was "New Strategies with DJ Spooky," an evening of diverse, mostly solo acts, curated by the young deejay.

Lincoln Center Festival 2005
Wednesday, July 13 through Saturday, July 16, 2005
PMP hosted its annual professional development field trip in New York in July, this year attending several events within the Lincoln Center Festival 2005. Comprised of about twenty-five leaders of the Greater Philadelphia music community, the group enjoyed three days of performances, discussions, and networking opportunities.

Spring 2005 Runouts: Harry Partch’s Oedipus, A Tough Line, and ChaplinOperas
On three evenings during the spring of 2005, PMP hosted trips to performances of the Ridge Theater’s production of Harry Partch’s Oedipus, VisionIntoArt’s A Tough Line, and Ensemble Intercontemporain’s performance of Benedict Mason’s ChaplinOperas.

Lost Objects, Brooklyn Academy of Music
New York City, December 3, 2004
On Friday, December 3, 2004, PMP’s staff was joined by eight representatives of Greater Philadelphia’s contemporary music community for a performance of “Lost Objects,” part of the Next Wave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM).

Tanglewood Music Center’s Festival of Contemporary Music
Lenox, Massachusetts, August 12-17, 2004
Seven representatives of Philadelphia-based contemporary music organizations attended the Tanglewood Music Center’s 2004 Festival of Contemporary Music, enjoying performances by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Meridian Arts Ensemble, New Fromm Players and Tanglewood Music Center Fellows with guest artists Dawn Upshaw, Lucy Shelton and André Watts. The group also held roundtable discussions with featured composers and Tanglewood administrators.

American Composers Orchestra/Jazz Organ Summit/Fiesta Mexicana/Sweeney Todd
New York City, March 10-13, 2004
Twenty-seven representatives of Philadelphia’s music community traveled to New York to attend performances of the American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, a Jazz Organ Summit at the Iridium Jazz Club, Fiesta Mexicana: Masters of Mexican Music, presented by the World Music Institute at Town Hall, and Sweeney Todd at the New York City Opera. Participants also enjoyed several panel discussions with distinguished musicians, presenters, and other arts professionals.

Bolcom/Allen/Blend
New York City, December 7-10, 2002
Thirty participants in PMP’s third professional development field trip to New York City attended performances at the Metropolitan Opera, the Kitchen, and the Village Vanguard and took part in discussions with a diverse group of composers, performing artists, arts administrators, and grant makers. (more)

Xenakis and Heath
New York City, October 19-21, 2001
Twenty-four Philadelphia musicians and arts professionals attended a tribute concert to Iannis Xenakis by the Ensemble Sospeso at Miller Theatre and a celebration of jazz saxophonist Jimmy Heath’s 75th birthday at Lincoln Center. Participants also took part in a roundtable discussion about the role of contemporary music in the arts community and building audiences for new music. (more)

A Great Day in New York
New York City, January 14-15, 2001
The Philadelphia Music Project’s first professional development trip brought 19 individuals representing fourteen area music organizations, Settlement Music School, and The Pew Charitable Trusts to New York City to attend a concert reflecting the diversity of New York’s music community, a follow-up symposium entitled "Post classical music and the changing marketplace," and a discussion on the genesis of the "Great Day in New York" Series and programming philosophies. (more)