XL Fall Arts Preview

With so many roles to play in helping her fellow artists practice their craft, Melissa Eddy might just be Austin's No. 1 Fan of Classical Music

"What great news! I am a Melissa fan!"

That's how Cliff Redd, executive director of the Long Center for the Performing Arts, responded to a request for an interview about one of his board members, Melissa Eddy.

A study in parallels? Standing in the Paramount Theatre beneath the painted image of St. Cecilia, the patron saint of music, Melissa Eddy is in good company. As founder and owner of Pro Arts Management, executive director of the Classical Music Consortium of Austin and a key Long Center visionary, Eddy does much to watch over Austin's fine arts flock. 2005-06 Fall Arts Preview:   » Visual arts preview   » Classical music and opera preview   » Theater preview   » Dance preview

So who is this woman, and how did she come to be such a linchpin for the arts, as well as contender for the No. 1 Fan of Classical Music in Austin?

As the traditional arts season formally begins this month with major performances and special events, such as Austin Museum Day, it's important to note that she's not a star soloist or artistic director. She doesn't conduct a big ensemble or turn heads with her celebrity status.

She's Melissa J. Eddy, founder and owner of Pro Arts Management, a service company for local artists and arts organizations; executive director of the Classical Music Consortium of Austin, an umbrella organization for choral and chamber classical music ensembles; and, as Redd says, a key player in the development of the Long Center -- that new performing arts facility on the south shore of Town Lake that is rising phoenixlike from the remains of the old Palmer Auditorium.

Meeting Eddy for the first time, the descriptive phrase that comes to mind is "businesslike." It's an impression created both by her appearance -- short dark hair, friendly, open, expressive face, conservative dress -- and by the directness of her manner.

"I guess I'm just not the 'artsy' type -- at least on the outside," she jokes. "Actually, sometimes I consciously try to appear more that way, but my wardrobe just doesn't go in that direction."

Whatever she might look like, when Eddy starts to discuss her work, you believe this woman knows what she's talking about.

Eddy grew up in Ohio and went to college in Michigan, receiving her bachelor's degree in psychology from Kalamazoo College, then her master's degree in clinical psychology from Western Michigan University.

She worked in psychological counseling for a while, then, as she puts it, "In the winter of 1977, my first husband and I were living in Kalamazoo, and that winter there was a stretch of 10 days when the temperature did not get above zero. We decided we were tired of being cold, and began looking around. He had family in deep East Texas, and I had a friend in Austin. We visited both places and pretty quickly decided we didn't want to live in East Texas, but loved Austin. So that's where we moved."

Shortly after moving to Austin she became a licensed professional counselor, and first worked at what was then the Center for Battered Women (now SafePlace). Some time later, she became involved with the Texas Council on Family Violence -- first serving on the board, then working part time, then full time in a variety of capacities.

So how did the transition from psychology and family services to the performing arts happen? One of her duties at the council was putting on the annual statewide conference.

"That involved getting speakers, venues, hotels -- that sort of thing," Eddy says, "and many of those skills are transferable to the world of the arts. There's not a whole lot of difference between putting on a conference and putting on a concert."

When Eddy left the council in 1992, "I was ready to do something different," she says. "I thought I might start private practice, but managed care was coming to the fore, and that was creating problems for private practitioners. I decided I didn't want to go there."

Growing up with music

So Eddy turned to the arts.

"I grew up with music," she says. "My mother played the piano as a hobby and sang to me and my brothers from the time we were babies. It was her piano that I learned on and now own. I ended up studying piano from second grade through college. I became a choral singer in sixth grade and sang all through college. For me, the appeal of music as both a performer and listener is that it's an all-absorbing experience."

Early on, she formed the habit of attending several concerts each month, and she served on the board and sang along with what what was then Austin Civic Chorus (now part of Chorus Austin). In 1993, the chorus' board asked her to serve as administrative assistant.

"I said 'Sure.' After that, I sort of learned on the job," she remembers.

One of the results was Eddy's selection for her current position as executive director of the Classical Music Consortium.

Mary Robbins, founder and executive director of A. Mozart Fest, a member of the consortium, provides some insights into its origins: "I called the leaders of various music groups one season to find out the dates they had in mind for concerts so our schedules wouldn't conflict. There was a puzzling degree of reluctance in some of the organizations to share any information, even though the point was to make everyone's plans more workable. So I invited everyone to my house for meetings to talk about it."

Eddy was one of the attendees at those early meetings, and in 1997, when the meetings led to the founding of the consortium, she was asked to serve as the new organization's part-time executive director. Both the concept and the operation have since proven to be successful. Currently some 15 organizations benefit from the services the consortium provides, services such as training, collaborative publicity, cooperative event scheduling and sharing of expertise and experience.

Matthew Hinsley, executive director of the Austin Classical Guitar Society, says of the consortium "under the superb guidance of Melissa Eddy, has become the most important link for small and mid-sized classical music organizations in Austin."

Eddy attributes this success mainly to "plain old hard work," an opinion that, sort of inadvertently, appears on her "State of the Arts" Texas licence plates.

"I wanted personalized plates that reflected my avocation and my job at the same time. Only five letters were permitted on the plates, so 'chorus' was out, and 'choir' sounded too churchlike. So I went with 'chor,' which is German for chorus. Most people, though, see it as 'chore,' which pretty well describes what's involved in running an arts organization."

In 2000, she left Chorus Austin, and it wasn't long before leaders of other performing groups, knowing she was available, started calling her to see if she would be interested in working for them.

"I sensed a business opportunity," she says, "so I founded my company to provide support to those small groups. Most artists would not disagree when I say that most people of a creative temperament or nature are not good organizers or administrators. I'm pretty unflappable and I'm very organized by nature, so I do a pretty good job of tracking things, keeping things in order."

For more than 10 years, she has devoted those qualities to the biggest arts project ever undertaken by Austin: the Long Center.

"Melissa possesses the very fine quality of objectivity," says former Long Center treasurer Steve Davis. "She can step outside herself, her own feelings, and examine issues critically. And she has more experience with small arts organizations than just about any one else I know."

Eddy's involvement with what became the Long Center project began in 1994, when, as she tells us, "A task force started meeting. I got invited to attend as a representative of what was then the Austin Civic Chorus, and have been involved ever since."

She continued, "At the beginning, a lot of smaller group representatives participated, but as time went on they became less involved, so there wasn't that much of a voice for them. When the formal board was formed in 1997, I was basically the only person representing smaller groups. Fortunately, within the last two years, their representation has increased again.

"Somewhere along the way, heard someone refer to the 'S.O.B.': the symphony, opera and ballet," she says. "There has always been a sense among the smaller groups that the S.O.B. interests are more powerful. I've made it my personal mission to alleviate that sense."

Eddy and her husband, Tracy Schiemenz, who manages homeowners' associations, live in Northwest Austin. With what amounts to three jobs, two grown stepdaughters and three -- four in March -- grandchildren, she still finds time to perform, although she has had to cut back a little.

"I'm just singing with one group now -- Conspirare Symphonic Chorus. We're just starting to rehearse (Carl Orff's) 'Carmina Burana,' which we'll be doing with dancers. I'm excited about it!"

In looking for the driving factor behind this remarkable woman's contributions to the arts in Austin, it might be Redd that best put his finger on it: "Melissa cares at the highest level about what happens -- she really cares deeply about the well being of the arts in Austin and the organizations that produce those arts. She is a community hero for her untiring work in understanding and representing the needs and interests of arts groups large and small."