David Collins: The Musician as Entrepreneur – Part 1

| Nov 20, 2015 |

Several years ago I got an email from David Collins, asking if I would be interested in participating in a brass course that he was starting. I had never met him but the course was in Dublin, Ireland, and since I had never been to Ireland and love new experiences my answer was of course, “yes. ” So over several months we corresponded by email about the normal sort of stuff prior to such a course – travel arrangements, schedules, teaching, and so forth.

He said that he would be picking me up at the airport in Dublin, and when he did I was shocked – he was not a middle aged man who had been in arts management all his life but rather someone in his 20’s with a happy personality and winning smile. His girlfriend (now wife) Sarah was with him, and she was his assistant during the course in Dublin. As we spoke on the way to the hotel I asked more about the course. It turns out that he felt that Ireland was somewhat isolated in terms of brass playing, and since nobody else had put together a course, well, maybe he should……..even though he was “only” a trumpet player and had no arts management experience.

No doubt he was concerned, perhaps even stressed, during that first Dublin Brass Week, but if he was he didn’t show it. The festival ran very smoothly and, in addition to all the teaching and performing involved, there was still time for fun. In fact, one of the highlights was a concert at the Guinness beer factory, and after the concert we all went to the 7th floor for a free pint.

For many years now I have increasingly felt that young musicians must think about themselves as entrepreneurs. The old and traditional paradigm of practice, get a job in an orchestra and then stay there until retirement just doesn’t seem as useful or practical or even as interesting as it once did. But my thinking had always been in terms of a person furthering their own career and development through this entrepreneurship. However, here was something totally outside the box – a player was creating a festival to help other players in his country. I found that really intriguing, so I had to ask Dave how he did it. His answers, thoughtful and inspiring, and be found in part 2 of this blog post