a concert series about starting new things (presented by Bowerbird)
Pay What You Wish
Awesome music and damn good advice
This is a series about starting a new music ensemble. In Philadelphia. In 2015. But it is also a series for anyone that’s ever tried to make something with other people. It’s about starting a non-profit, or an ensemble, or a business, or choosing not too. It’s about being unstoppable in the face of soul-crushing paperwork, or just finding your own path. It’s about asking the question “How are we going to do this?”, answering “I don’t know”, and giving it a shot anyway. It’s also a chance to hear some great music and words of wisdom.
Each event will weave approximately 60 minutes of music and 60 minutes of discussion in a casual setting with light refreshments and drinks.
All proceeds from these events are being used to establish a seed fund for “The Ensemble”.
About Bowerbird
Our story begins in the fall of 2014, when a few of us (see below) got the idea to start a new contemporary music ensemble. We felt we had a good idea, that the timing was right, and that others would want to join us. But we also had lots of questions: Who was going to be in the group? What would we play? How should decisions– artistic and otherwise– be made? These questions are huge, but we were itching to start. So we began with these questions, and decided to open our process to the public.
Earlier this year we sent out two groups of invitations. One was sent to musicians with the simple request that they perform something they are excited about. The other was sent to members of our community, people that have started their own things– in music, in dance, in theater, in ice cream– and survived (and thrived) to tell about it.