11:17 AM
Tasha Lee
 who? Hilary Feldmanwhat? Cabaret Vocalist where? Chicagoland Area website? www.aokcabaret.org QUOTE: "...a magical art form for all to enjoy." How did you start your singing career? I've been singing and playing instruments since I was a kid. I took a long, circuitous route to a professional singing career. I was discouraged from pursuing a performing career by my parents, because they were worried about the hardships of it. So I kept trying things that were musically related -- composition, recording engineering, music production -- but I always longed to be telling stories through song. In my late 20's, I gave up all the periferals and started over. Having no clue what I was doing, I started auditioning for theatre jobs. I got lucky, and I worked consistently, eventually at the big dinner theatres in Chicago. But it wasn't quite right. Then I saw my first cabaret show, and I knew that was what I needed to be doing. After a decade in theatre, I gave that up to pursue a cabaret career. It is most definitely my true artistic home. I love being a student of song and telling stories through songs of all genres and from all eras. I love having complete artistic control over my life. Who has been your inspiration throughout the journey of your career? Honestly, I can't put my finger on a single person. There are several artists who have inspired me, and with whom I've had the pleasure of studying and performing: Andrea Marcovicci, Karen Mason, Shelly Markham, Christopher Denny. Many friends have inspired me in various ways as well. You are the founder of Acts Of Kindness (AOK) Cabaret, what inspired you to begin this new venture? I was looking for a way to use what I already do in my life to give back to the world in some meaningful way. But outside of the cabaret community in Chicago, no one knew who I was. So it’s not like I was a “draw” for an audience. However, when I reframed my thinking to make it about the people I wanted to help, Acts Of Kindness Cabaret took shape. I got other professional artists of like mind, and now we perform to raise money for other non-profit organizations, and those organizations are their own ‘draw.’ So far, Acts Of Kindness Cabaret has raised over $125,000 for needful non-profit organizations in the Chicago area. Our goal is to do between 8 and 12 benefit performances per year. What is your primary role at this point? Where do you hope to be in 5 years? With Acts Of Kindness Cabaret, my primary role is to continue to find organizations to help; continue to create new shows to offer them; and continue to increase the awareness, understanding, and enjoyment of modern cabaret. Most people still associate cabaret with cabaret of the 1930’s (think Liza Minelli and Joel Grey). But it’s something much different now, a magical art form for all to enjoy. And it’s wonderful that I can use this unique, intimate art form to help others. As far as my solo career goes, my primary goal as a cabaret artist is both to help preserve the great American songs of the past, as well as give voice to the songs being written today that might never find an audience if it weren’t for the cabaret artist. There is genius, stunning material being written today. I want to share it with my audiences. What types of projects/jobs do you currently take on? What is the primary goal of AOK Cabaret? Acts Of Kindness Cabaret’s primary goals are: 1) To provide cabaret performances, largely free of charge, as fundraising vehicles for other needful non-profit organizations in the Chicagoland area; 2) To increase awareness, understanding, and enjoyment of modern cabaret; and 3) To use our do-what-we-can-with-what-we-have approach to inspire others to do the same. We work closely with all kinds of non-profit organization, large and small. As long as they are not political or religious, they can qualify for an AOK Cabaret event. Events can be show-only, or they can include a reception, silent auction, raffle, etc. to increase their fundraising potential. As long as the performance is the central focus of the event and we have a captive audience while we’re performing, we can make almost any kind of event work. And we take care of everything related to the performance (performers, lighting, sound, crew, ushers, programs), as well as helping with publicity for the event. That fact, combined with the fact that it costs our beneficiaries next to nothing, makes us kind of like an “event in a box.” It’s a fun, relatively easy, inexpensive, and unique fundraising event. Who is your ideal client? ideal project type? AOK Cabaret’s ideal client is a 501(c)3 organization with a good, working Board, committed to making the event successful. We could be the first event they’ve ever held, or they could be very experienced at holding events. They should have a good mailing list and local base of supporters. And they should be willing to work WITH us to create a successful fundraising event. For me, as a solo artist, I would say that my ideal client is someone who wants a good 45-minute or 1-hour show where the audience is a captive one. Cabaret is not like piano bar music... it doesn’t make good background music. It requires attention. Do you have any life experiences that other business owners may benefit from? When I was setting up Acts Of Kindness Cabaret, I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t know the first thing about starting a non-profit. Everything I did meant reading a book on how to do it. And of course when we started, there was no money, but we had lots of needs. So I asked. And I was AMAZED by how people stepped up to help. What I learned was that people really want to help; they just need to know how. It’s really important to ask. The worst someone can say is ‘no.’ I also learned that I had to be willing to let go of certain things. The original overall vision I had for AOK Cabaret is still intact, but lots of the details have had to change. It was hard to let those things go, but the organization is stronger for it. It’s really important to be willing to make adjustments as you go along and trust the process. Up until this point, what has been your most significant moment? For AOK, it has been lots of little moments. The most surprising aspect for me has been the privilege of meeting and working with so many people who are so incredibly passionate about the work they do. Just as I am passionate about the work AOK does, they are passionate about the work their non-profits do... in spades. Passion is very uplifting and inspiring, and it is a blessing for me to come into contact with it so often. For my solo singing life, the most significant moment was a week I spent at a cabaret workshop up in the mountains outside of Steamboat Springs, CO. A week of working with 6 of the best in the business (11 students and 6 master teachers... unbelievable!), in a gorgeous setting, learning like crazy, and doing only what I love with no phones, computers, or television to distract me. That directly led to my solo career picking up, to releasing my first CD in 2008, and to me becoming a much better artist. How do you market yourself and keep your name in the forefront? What do you feel is working or not working? AOK Cabaret markets through direct phone calls, direct mail, and through networking. The word ‘cabaret’ scares people, and the fact that we are practically giving our service away makes people skeptical. There’s a ‘What’s the catch?’ factor we have to overcome. Networking, by far, seems to work the best. There is no substitute for direct contact. We have nice materials to be able to hand people, and a lovely website we can direct them to. In my solo life, word of mouth is my main gig-getter these days. I spend so much time marketing AOK, that I often neglect marketing myself. However, I am about to start an e-mail marketing campaign for myself, and am looking forward to seeing how that works out. How does ones business image {logo, website, print materials, presentation} impact your decision on whether or not to do business with them? I can’t say that, for my businesses, it impacts me all that much. However, when you see an organization or business has a name, logo, and business materials that all work together, it definitely says something about them. It says to me that they’re organized and that the different ‘branches’ are working together to put forward a united vision. That’s important to me. Last year, you did a complete overhaul on your website design? How has that impacted AOK? You did a proper brochure for us two years ago, to replace the one I was printing on my home printer, and it looked fantastic. We feel proud to hand it out. The old brochure had been designed (by me) to reflect the look of the old website (also designed by me). Both the old tools worked well enough, but once we had the new brochure, we felt a strong desire to create a united look to all our marketing tools -- same fonts, same colors, same wording where appropriate, etc. The new site has raised the image of our organization to a new professional level. It shows that we pay attention to details and that we are on top of things. Both the brochure and the site present all the information well and, at the same time, reflect the warmth of our organization, which is very important to us. www.tashaleedesign.com |
