AMPlify: Strathmore’s Residency Cultivating Artistic Growth and Innovation
January 1, 2023
By Mary Murdock
This winter, Strathmore launched a new intensive residency program to further the mission of nourishing and showcasing distinctive and diverse artistic voices from across the cultural landscape. The initiative, called AMPlify, is focused on growth and creation over performance, and it provides artists with resources and connections to help them bring their work and vision to the next level. Tailoring the program to each individual it supports, AMPlify provides the compensation, rehearsal space, and partnerships that professional artists need to dedicate time and energy to the creative process.
The customized multi-day program takes place at AMP, Strathmore’s lounge-style venue in North Bethesda’s Pike & Rose neighborhood. AMP and the surrounding community offer a unique setting for artists to live and work for their multi-day residency, with ample food and beverage options nearby and a brightly lit, professionally equipped rehearsal and performance space.
AMPlify’s first artist in residence was Miho Hazama, a Grammy-nominated composer and leader of the jazz chamber orchestra m_unit. Based in New York, time and space reserved solely for the creative process is a rare luxury for Hazama and something she has never had to the extent she did during this experience. Hazama used her three days to rehearse for an upcoming recording project with her 13-piece chamber orchestra.
“There were a few pieces that we had played before, but we never had time to really look into them before AMPlify,” says Hazama. “Rehearsing certain phrases over and over again is something that we really need to do because my music is sometimes quite complex. Making musicians realize what role they play in the ensemble is also very important to my music, and we all were able to work on that during my residency.”
STRATHMORE INVESTS IN WORKING ARTISTS
AMPlify is Strathmore’s second artist residency program, following the Strathmore Artist in Residence (AIR) program that has supported more than 100 artists since 2005. AIR is a yearlong mentorship program that helps emerging artists hone their professional and creative identities at the beginning of their careers. By contrast, “AMPlify is a more expanded concept,” says Joi Brown, Strathmore’s artistic director and vice president of programming. “The initiative focuses on supporting artists who are already working professionally and creating content but don’t have enough resources to spend on pure creation.”
AMPlify has helped to advance Strathmore’s relationships with working artists into something more supportive than transactional. “Artists need time to find their voice and create, without the expectation that there is a certain outcome,” says Brown. AMPlify is a way to move resources into the creation of new work as it’s happening, rather than only presenting the finished product. In this way, AMPlify invests in continuing relationships with working artists throughout their careers.
Strathmore looks forward to continuing this new residency with more artists and is already engaged in conversations with artists and their representatives to match their needs with the resources that AMP by Strathmore can provide. Through AMPlify, Strathmore has expanded its ability to support artists at all stages of development, from their first childhood music lesson to their first solo performance and well into their professional careers.
This story appeared in Strathmore's Summer 2023 newsletter.