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Kevin, Sr. Manager, Strategy & Special Projects at Professional City Orchestra: Advize Career Interview
A career journey from music performance at the University of Texas at Austin to a senior management role at a Los Angeles orchestra showcases a fascinating path blending business acumen and artistic passion.
This individual's experience in consulting, coupled with a graduate degree, informs a current role focused on long-term financial viability and audience engagement.
A typical day involves balancing internal process improvements with the development and analysis of new initiatives, requiring strong problem-solving, communication, and persuasive skills.
The most rewarding aspects include collaborating with passionate colleagues, making a tangible community impact, and the constant learning.
Challenges include navigating competing priorities and resource constraints, demanding a mastery of internal and external communication to effectively prioritize initiatives.
Success in this field requires a passion for the arts, operational understanding, and business acumen.
Advice to undergraduates emphasizes identifying a function of interest within the arts industry, embracing mistakes, and stepping outside comfort zones.
The interview also stresses the invaluable lessons learned from seeking mentors and sponsors, emphasizing the importance of bringing unique perspectives to collaborative environments.
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Job Title
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Kevin Ma
Sr. Manager, Strategy & Special Projects
Professional City Orchestra
The University of Texas at Austin, 2014
MBA - UCLA Anderson School of Management
Business Management & Admin
Arts, Entertainment & Media
Business Strategy
Immigrant
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Career Path Of A Senior Manager Strategy And Special Projects At Professional City Orchestra
Kevin's career journey began with a music performance major at the University of Texas at Austin, which transitioned into a general business degree. After five years in consulting, advising "seniors Executives across multiple Industries" in mergers and acquisitions, a return to graduate school preceded a full-circle move back to music, now working in a strategy role for a Los Angeles arts organization.
Main Responsibilities Of A Senior Manager Strategy And Special Projects At Professional City Orchestra
Kevin's role as Senior Manager, Strategy & Special Projects at the Professional City Orchestra focuses on the organization's long-term financial viability and growth in a "post-Covid world," exploring "ways to make what we do more accessible" through geographic expansion and innovative audience engagement strategies, including enhanced digital presence and operational efficiencies. The work moves beyond traditional concert production to encompass the organization's overall future.
A Day In The Life Of A Senior Manager, Strategy And Special Projects At Professional City Orchestra
A senior manager of strategy and special projects divides their time between "run the organization," improving internal processes and efficiency, and "growing the organization," which involves analyzing and developing plans for new initiatives from the CEO, executive team, or board of directors. This latter function includes "doing the due diligence and analysis to see if those ideas are viable and feasible," requiring both internal and external research and collaboration.
Most Important Skills for a Senior Manager Strategy and Special Projects at Professional City Orchestra
Kevin, a Senior Manager of Strategy & Special Projects, emphasizes transferable skills crucial for success, citing "a bias for problem-solving," strong communication, the ability to "influence and persuade," and excellent organizational skills to manage competing priorities as essential for navigating their multifaceted role. These skills enable effective collaboration and efficient project execution across various teams and initiatives within the Professional City Orchestra.
Favorite Parts Of Being A Senior Manager Strategy And Special Projects At Professional City Orchestra
Kevin's favorite aspects of his role as Sr. Manager, Strategy & Special Projects include being "part of something unique, something bigger than myself," that aligns with his musical background, and collaborating with "really smart and passionate people" who share a similar professional experience. The constant learning and lack of boredom are also highly valued aspects of the position.
Biggest Challenges Faced By A Senior Manager Strategy And Special Projects At Professional City Orchestra
Kevin's role as Senior Manager, Strategy & Special Projects at the Professional City Orchestra presents challenges inherent to a position "not critical to the day-to-day," requiring skill in navigating competing priorities and resource constraints within a fast-paced environment. Success hinges on "speaking the language" of various teams, understanding their work, and prioritizing effectively while minimizing disruption to their core responsibilities.
Favorite Parts of Working in the Music Industry as a Senior Strategy and Special Projects Manager
Kevin, a Senior Manager at a city orchestra, finds the most rewarding aspect of his music and arts career to be the "tangible impact" of "being able to sit in on rehearsals and concerts, meet artists and musicians," and the realization that this work provides meaningful positive impacts on the community, both live and virtually. This makes the work fulfilling, especially considering the events of the past few years which highlighted the importance of the arts.
What type of person thrives in the music industry, according to a Senior Manager of Strategy and Special Projects at Professional City Orchestra
Success in the orchestra industry requires a passion for "what they do and what we do in the future of it," understanding the demanding, seven-day-a-week operational cycle, and a crucial ability to balance "the artistic and creative lens" with the organization's business needs for sustainability. This blend of passion, operational understanding, and business acumen is key to thriving in this unique environment.
What a Senior Strategy Manager at Professional City Orchestra wishes they had known before entering the orchestra industry
Kevin's experience highlights the unexpected value of diverse prior work experience, noting that "all the things that I do day to day I pull from my previous experience," even across different industries. The interview also reveals the importance of accepting external constraints and maintaining perspective when facing challenges inherent in collaborative projects with external partners and vendors.
Entry-level positions for aspiring Arts Administrators
Kevin, a Senior Manager at a city orchestra, suggests undergraduates consider entry-level positions by first identifying "an industry or a function" of interest—such as arts, media, or live music—and then exploring related roles within chosen organizations, including "Revenue generating functions like sales Marketing," "core functions like operations," or "internal facing functions like Finance." This two-step approach, Kevin notes, provides a framework to streamline the job search process.
Significant Career Lesson From a Senior Strategy Manager at Professional City Orchestra
Early in Kevin's career, feedback emphasized the importance of always bringing "a perspective to conversation," a skill initially challenging due to imposter syndrome but ultimately becoming essential. This developed into a habit and a leadership expectation, proving invaluable as Kevin's career progressed, requiring "confidence and conviction" to guide teams.
College Experiences That Helped a Senior Manager Strategy and Special Projects at Professional City Orchestra Succeed
Kevin's UT Austin experience highlights three key factors contributing to career success: embracing mistakes and pivoting—"being okay with making mistakes and pivoting"—, stepping outside of comfort zones through experiences like studying abroad, and active involvement in organizations to develop crucial interpersonal skills and networking opportunities. This approach, exemplified by their journey from an initially unrelated major to a fulfilling career in arts management, emphasizes adaptability, exploration, and the cultivation of essential soft skills.
How Identity Has Influenced A Senior Manager, Strategy And Special Projects's Career At Professional City Orchestra
Early in their career in consulting, the senior manager often found themself as "the only one who looked like" them in meetings, highlighting the importance of seeking out mentors and sponsors. This experience, coupled with working for organizations that prioritize representation, built their confidence, allowing them to believe that their "opinions and experiences are valid," regardless of how different they may be.
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