Artist Workshops
Musaics of the Bay’s online and in-person workshops are devoted to guiding and supporting artists through the process of establishing a creative collective, new music organization, concert series, commissioning project, and more. We invite all interested instrumentalists, composers, and visual artists to join these discussions.
JOIN Us
Are you a musician living in the Bay area and looking to start your own ensemble, program your own concerts, or fundraise for an artistic project? We at Musaics of the Bay want to help you through the process of creating your own entrepreneurial initiatives.
We welcome you to join us at one of our Artist Workshops, which provide spaces for learning, dialogue and inspiration among new and seasoned community members.
Sign up below to be notified about future workshops, or drop us an email to share any proposals for projects or collaborations you may have.
Past Workshops
Charles Letourneau
For 25+ years, Charles Letourneau has produced several of the most successful performing arts projects in the business. Now the former Senior Vice President of IMG Artists is redefining the creative and commercial possibilities of how performance and lifestyle festivals can – and should – be planned, executed and monetized. With an international/multi-lingual toolkit that includes feasibility studies, financial planning, technical operations, programming, fundraising, marketing, strategic partnerships, artist relations, educational programs and an in-depth knowledge of classical music, Letourneau’s events – including Tokyo’s Mostly Mozart Festival, Itzhak Perlman’s ‘Return to Russia’ concerts, Thomas Hampson’s ‘Song of America’ tour, Italy’s Tuscan Sun Festival and Florida’s Festival of the Arts Boca – continue to move the needle on a global level. The renowned Festival Napa Valley, which Letourneau co-founded in 2006, remains the artistic/commercial blueprint for regional event organizers and investors worldwide.
Cristina Spinei
Composer and performer Cristina Spinei (pronounced spin-AY) has written for numerous orchestras and chamber ensembles, but she is most known for her work with ballet, having been commissioned by Nashville Ballet, the New York Choreographic Institute, the Pacific Northwest Ballet, and many more. Growing up with dreams of becoming a ballerina, Spinei has channeled her love for dance into a devotion to musical movement, resulting in a style infused with “lyricism and rhythmic vitality.” (Nashville Scene)
Katie Swatland
Katie’s work is as ‘an intrinsic dance between reality and rêverie.’ She approaches the canvas through means of discovery, imparting a sense of playful curiosity throughout a broad range of subject matter. Gestural brushwork combine with areas of transparency, contrasted by passages of thick impasto paint, all intermingle in a symphony of lost and found edges.
Raised in an artistic family, Swatland’s innate curiosity and passion for the sciences first led her to pursue training as an engineer. When presented with the choice of whether to accept a full scholarship for graduate school and develop equations to describe aviation aerodynamics on the quantum level, or pursue her first love of painting, she chose the path of the artist. She discovered it is the unbounded landscape to which she is most drawn, and that through the nourishment of imagination she is able to most directly explore and be fully alive.
Chris Rippey
Chris Rippey has been teaching music to students of all ages for over a decade. An active student of music himself, always seeking to improve his craft and better understand how to help people use music to improve their lives, Chris believes that anyone, regardless of age, experience, or physical ability is capable of making beautiful music, and it has been his privilege to watch this conviction proved true over the years.
Chris plays many instruments, as his focus is on studying the inter-relatedness of music from around the world- how music is the one truly universal language - and drawing upon that process to create new works which grow from diverse roots.
To this end Chris pursued his education from various sources: he studied classical music, composition, and music theory at CU Boulder; put years into Scottish and Irish bagpipes, flutes and whistles; played guitar and bass in jazz and jam bands; learned Balinese music and instruments performing with Gamelan Tunas Mekar; delved deeply into American blues, mountain and traditional styles of guitar and banjo; He also continues to work closely on Scandinavian, African, and Chinese music.
Erini
Heard by over 1 million people during her tour with Cirque Du Soleil, Erini’s voice is characterized by entrancing ornaments from the Greek tradition and inspired by far-ranging influences such as jazz, pop and classical music. Growing up in a musical family on the island of Crete, Greece, Erini played the piano and cello and performed with her hometown’s string orchestra and choir. As a descendant of Greek-Anatolian refugees, Erini’s mother introduced her to the Greek - Anatolian musical tradition which ignited Erini’s passion for singing.