Why does Pistocelli Services exist? Here is some background. Years ago, in a conservatory recital hall, a student asked eminent avant-garde composer, Alvin Lucier, his advice for a young composer. Lucier’s immediate answer was “Find your friends.” That was quite an interesting answer. It wasn’t musically technical. Nor was it guidance on how to formulate career moves in a given way or on a certain schedule. The message was a practical yet philosophical one. On one’s own, nobody can do near as much as with the support of peers. Keep in mind that composers are some of the most solitary of artists. What they do as creatives is largely done alone. The point, however, has proven valid. Certain professions do require engagement beyond the self to achieve goals. Networking works. Programming, conducting, and performing on fellow composers’ works is beneficial to everyone. Engagement!

After graduate school, despite social awkwardness, I pursued, in sequence, two careers in music, both of which involved engagement. The first was academia, which requires being a member of a department, recruiting and working with performers, teaching classes of students, serving on committees, and serving the discipline at regional and national levels. The second was philanthropy, which requires visiting all types of applicant organizations, listening to leaders, asking tough questions, and convincing co-workers of certain grant applications’ worthiness.

After about thirty years’ combined work in these jobs, I found myself both rewarded and exhausted. It was time to breathe, step down, and step back. There were books to read, more music to write, opera houses to visit, and family and friends with whom to reconnect. All of that has been glorious.

Just then, a wise man whom I had known my whole life opined that happiness is a by-product of constructive engagement. Idleness leads to wasting away. Mere pronouncement of support to an issue may bring about some awareness but doesn’t typically, of itself, lead to desired outcomes. Commitment, in the form of engaged work towards results, produces satisfaction in a life well lived, one committed to a purpose. 

That wise man has the habit of being right, and I believe he is so here. My best times of working in the foundation, for example, were in meeting, questioning, and learning from amazing, committed arts leaders in the city. They could be executive directors, teaching artists, development officers, and performers. Their organizations could be chamber ensembles, theater companies, and youth arts organizations. The neighborhoods were as diverse as Albany Park, Garfield Park, Hyde Park, Austin, Englewood,  the Loop, Pilsen, and Roseland. These are some of the best people in the city and not many people have heard about them. Fortunately for me, I have and will keep doing so.

Pistocelli Services will enable me to continue engaging with these people, groups, and neighborhoods on a part time basis. I’ll engage *and* breathe. The mission is to support quality programs of arts and arts education in Chicago. However long or short in duration, and however big or little in scope, we are constructively engaged, thanks in large part to the advice Mr. Lucier and the Wise Man. Thanks, guys, and see you around, everybody.

—Mike