Finding harmony between business and the arts: a conversation with Miriam Goldberg Owens of The People’s Music School, Chicago.

Humanities Watch: How central is the mission of The People’s Music School?

Miriam Goldberg Owens: We always start staff meetings by reading the mission out loud: it’s hard to say it any better! I really love this mission, because every single word is meaningful. “High-quality, tuition-free”: the emphasis on quality is in everything we do. Our founder, Rita Simó, had a Ph.D. in music from Juilliard: rigor has been important from the outset, along with no-cost. Rita was thunder-struck when she discovered there was no place is Chicago for music that was tuition-free, whereas she knew such places in the Dominican Republic; and we continue to strive to reduce barriers to access in every way we can. We lend instruments at no cost to students; we provide transportation to students to come to class.

“Intensive instruction and performance”: performance is a critical “crucible moment” that creates not only confidence but also comfort with success and with failure. An independent assessment found that our School provided a greater measure of a growth mindset in our students: students grow not only musically but also socially and intellectually.

HW: Tell us about its programs and how people can get involved and support its mission.

MGO: Our programs include after-school music instruction in Chicago. We have four different sites: Uptown Academy, the original location for the School; and three community sites collocated with Chicago Public Schools: Albany Park; Back of the Yard; and Greater South Side.

We enrolled 750 students this year all the way from K-12. We have tried to have four+ hours of direct instruction every week, usually twice a week, in line with the student’s location.

We provide four pillars of instruction: ensemble – how to work together; individual instruction; performance; and music theory.

We are 100% tuition free, without auditions.

We ask only that students might not otherwise afford it; and we ask students to provide community service every year with respect with the programs, ranging from helping the programs run and creating artwork to help publicize them.

HW: What is your earliest or favorite memory about the place of music in your life?

MGO: This question reminds me of a recent experience at the School at Uptown Academy. Earlier this year I was chatting with one of our voice students as she was waiting for her ride home. We had come out of the virtual learning environment and now had in-person lessons again. I had taken both voice and instrumental lessons as a child, and I asked her, “why do I like to sing?” She answered, “when I sing, I feel like me.” This struck home with me: I never feel more myself, in a flow state, than when I’m singing and performing. My experience with music more than anything else has deepened my capacity for joy and my ability to connect to other people. I took piano and voice all throughout school, and I have so many fond memories singing with my brother. I sang in an a cappella group in college and now am a lead singer for a rock band.

When I was at McKinsey, we had a battle of the bands in front of 1000 people; I was seven-months pregnant with my second son, and we kicked ass and won! There is no comparable way to bond with people than to make music with other people. There’s nothing like performing with friends.

HW: As you mentioned, you had a successful career at McKinsey before coming to the School. How has your love for music help you in this career?

MGO: First of all, music helped me create connections with people that I otherwise would not have done. Taking time to make music helps stabilize me more than any other activity: it refreshes me so much when I practice with my band. In a very intense job, with long work hours, making time for music that restores you is so important. People in intensive careers can forget to be human, and work becomes your life. Music rounds you out as a human being.

McKinsey is a strategy consulting firm, which typically brings a team of consultants to help a senior executive to resolve a critical problem. We might help someone figure out a five-year strategy or an HR problem by developing analysis and presenting solutions. Often our team would be met with reluctance or suspicion by those asked to work with us. This is where your EQ and being able to connect with people is so important, to finds ways of binding with people. As you rise in the company, building relationships becomes crucial.

In the world of McKinsey we speak of a “trust equation”: trust = intimacy, credibility, reliability divided by self-orientation. The more self-oriented you are, the less trustworthy you seem, but fostering intimacy and credibility leads to greater feelings of trust.

Early on in McKinsey, I heard someone talking about influencing someone to make a decision. That was our product: influence!

HW: Conversely, how did your time at McKinsey set the stage for your work at the School?

MGO: My career prior to McKinsey was in the social sector: I was a teacher interested in educational equity. I was not always focused on music and the arts. A couple of years ago, in 2020, my work with McKinsey required Zoom calls 10 hours / day, and I was not satisfied with the work / life balance. As a consultant I often found myself presenting solutions that were imaginary, and the business world I was in emphasized personal achievements.

McKinsey was good at holding in front of me additional goals and benefits. But I wanted to return to social sector, and McKinsey allowed me to work part-time in order to think things through. I began reading books about brainstorming on my finding the next step. In my “blue-sky” journal I wrote that my top goal was “leading an organization providing elite arts education to underserved communities.” A friend directed me to an opportunity to The People’s Music School. The person I spoke with at The School suggested the role of Chief Operating Officer, and it felt like the universe was centering on this point.

It’s been a year since I embraced this opportunity, and it has been at times stressful – I compare it to being a first-year teacher – but I am incredibly motivated: I am concerned about the good of the school, and I feel that my rate of personal growth is so much higher than if I had stayed at McKinsey.

I’m a big proponent of telling yourself the thing you’re trying not to know. At McKinsey, I was trying not to tell myself I didn’t want to be a consultant. As someone who helps run an organization, I understand that consultants are important; but I needed to ask myself why I was doing consultancy, and what the alternatives are. I needed to challenge received wisdom and the value placed on high-achieving, risk-adverse career paths. I think it’s important to look inward and question things you are taking for granted.

My musical trajectory over time has changed from classical to less traditional, more radical forms of music – punk, for example the “Bikini Kill” group, and so my musical identity has helped me have a life identity I want to have.

HW: What would tell people in the business world about the importance of the arts?

MGO: The arts literally change your brain: it reorganizes your ability to process and remember, and strengthens your neural pathways in a way nothing else does. It fosters soft skills; music reinforces, as I mentioned before, your growth mindset. The lead singer of a group called Lake Street Drive once introduced a song by talking about how musicians play through mistakes in order to teach ourselves that making a mistake is not the end of the world: you grow through it.

HW: What would you tell people in the arts world about the importance of business?

MGO: The tools of business organizations are sometimes under-appreciated in non-profits. There’s often a feeling that people from the profit sector are “too corporate”: but what does this mean? The advantage of the private sector is that the goal is very clear: maximize profit. That is clarifying. In a social sector or non-profit setting, the goal is not as clear, but an organization needs to have one. At The People’s Music School, I see the goal as maximizing the benefits of intensive music education on individual students, which means increasing both the quality of instruction – i.e., the quality of our faculty – and what we call “dosage” of direct instruction, or the number of hours an individual student receives instruction per week. More hours per student with better teaching equals transformational impact on our students. This overarching goal is very clarifying to me day to day.

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