Eastman Showcase 2006
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The Musical Entrepreneur
Michael Drapkin (BM ’79) graduated from Eastman with a degree in clarinet performance, and still identifies himself first and foremost as a performing musician. But as founder and director of the Foundation for Entrepreneurialism in the Arts (FEA), Michael is also devoted to training young musicians in the realities of the modern musical world, so that they won’t just get jobs, but that they will help to create the jobs they want. Michael himself is an excellent example of this: after playing in the Honolulu Symphony, he became a serial entrepreneur in software development, launching 30 different startup companies before deciding to help his fellow musicians find new avenues for employment and founding the FEA.
As part of this vision, he launched the first Brevard Conference on Music Entrepreneurship at the Brevard Music Center last month. The conference was a great success, selling out and drawing musicians, entrepreneurs, and educators from across the country.
“Call it what you want - entrepreneurship, leadership, management, vision, but every great revolution starts with one person who has an idea and figures out a way to make it stick,” said Drapkin, in his opening speech at the conference. “We want you to leave here inspired. To become a visionary. To dream about what might be, and to acquire the know-how to make it happen. An army of visionaries fanning out across American making things work. Finding a way to make things happen and clawing and scratching until some brick in that immovable wall comes loose, and you slip through.”