Jessica Hilo

(photo courtesy of the_toe_stubber under Creative Commons)

"Órale, vato!"

In the City of Good Ol' Watts 

A video sequence of Vicky Dorn

This interview is longer than the assignment and takes liberties with editing.

The last four years of my life were spent suckling the teat of Santa Barbara's most affluent, albeit community-minded residents for the area symphony. You see, while institutions like symphonic orchestras have an obligation to uphold traditions and promote artistic excellence through innovation, they receive more and more pressure from their community to provide free music education programs when budgetary constraints in schools cut out the arts. The result, of course, is a change in how these organizations operate- siphoning their valuable resources across many platforms and working with community partners, in their industry and abroad, commercial and non-profit alike, to fulfill a great deficit. Some argue that this service is self-interested and that symphonic orchestras invest in music education programs as a way of ensuring the industry's future: breeding the next generation of employees and patrons. These arguments, on the whole, are largely ignored for their audacity. Non-profits have it hard enough.

A haphazard foray into the wild world of embedded video.