Skip to main content
Center for Innovative Leadership
CIL student in class presenting

The Center for Innovative Leadership is committed to transformative change in professional music through developing powerful and replicable models that propel art and education, sustain artists, and welcome all members of the community. Offering intensive seminars, workshops, and organizational consulting, the Center’s programs are each designed to serve specific cohorts in arts management, from rising professionals in the field to senior staff to board chairs. All programs offered are open to SFCM students to audit or actively participate.

PHILOSOPHY

The Center is committed to the philosophy that each organization must function within a unique community and economic ecosystem, and believes the path to success is leading with imagination, courage, and optimism while applying skillful execution of key initiatives and iterative design conjoined with a clever financial plan.
Read the Announcement

SUMMER 2020

Slated to welcome its inaugural cohort in 2022, we accelerated our own timeline in order to gather artistic and administrative leaders for a series of publicly viewable roundtable discussions July 2020, modeling the transparent collaboration the industry needs to move forward in a post-pandemic world.

Leaders Reframe False Dichotomies

July 7-9, 2020

Small groups of artists and administrators across the orchestra and opera world openly discussed important questions outside the bargaining table in response to the accelerated rate of change around us. Offered online only and open to all.

Guest Speakers:

Jennifer Arnold

Jennifer Arnold
Director of Artistic Planning,
Richmond Symphony

Aubrey Bergauer

Aubrey Bergauer
Center for Innovative Leadership,
SFCM

Julia Bullock soprano

Julia Bullock
Soprano

Jennifer Cho

Jennifer Cho
Violin,
San Francisco Opera

Kale Cummings

Kale Cumings
President,
Musicians Union - Local 6

Michael Gordon

Michael Gordon
Principal Flute,
Kansas City Symphony

David Lomeli

David Lomelí
Director of Artistic Administration,
The Dallas Opera

Ryan McKinny

Ryan McKinny
Bass-Baritone

Joy Payton-Stevens

Joy Payton-Stevens
Cello,
Seattle Symphony

Jessica Phillips

Jessica Phillips
Clarinet,
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

Kamala Sankaram

Kamala Sankaram
Composer & Co-Artistic Director,
Experiments in Opera

Weston Sprott

Weston Sprott
Trombone,
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

Christopher Still

Christopher Still
Trumpet,
LA Philharmonic

Lidya Yankovskaya

Lidiya Yankovskaya
Conductor & Music Director,
Chicago Opera Theater

Igor Yuzefovich

Igor Yuzefovich
Concertmaster,
BBC Symphony Orchestra