Juilliard alumni take the lead not only onstage. Many have also become leaders in the world of performing-arts education throughout the United States.

Alan Fletcher. (Photo by Ronald Compton)

One such alumnus is Alan Fletcher, head of the School of Music at Carnegie Mellon University. Fletcher received his bachelor's degree from Princeton before earning a master's degree and D.M.A. in composition from Juilliard in the early 1980s. From there, he went on to teach theory and composition at the New England Conservatory, where he was elected faculty leader. Eventually he was asked to join the administration.

"I became faculty leader," says Fletcher, "partly because no one else wanted to do it—and in the course of some intense issues with administration, I just found that I liked making that bridge between people." He became provost at the New England Conservatory, later attended the educational management program at Harvard, and then moved to Pittsburgh in 2001 to accept his current position at Carnegie Mellon. On an average day, Fletcher does everything from recruiting new faculty and students from all over the world, to teaching composition, to working with the deans of other departments. "The highlight of the job always is to hear students improve. I spend some time each week going to rehearsals, purely because then I hear those people brought in as teenagers turning into real artists," Fletcher says.

Also a dean, Juilliard alumna Cristyne Lawson brings her talents to an arts university, California Institute of the Arts. Lawson studied dance at Juilliard, leaving in 1955 to pursue a professional career. She joined the Martha Graham Dance Company and toured Asia for six months, then returned to join the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. She lived in London during the 1960s, touring Europe, choreographing for film and stage, and appearing in numerous television dance programs for the BBC. Lawson returned to the U.S. in 1970 and founded the dance company, Company of Man, Inc., to explore the possibilities of dance and media. She moved to California in 1973, after teaching as a visiting professor at the University of California.

Cristyne Lawson. (Photo by Steven A. Gunther)

In 1976 Lawson was offered the deanship at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in Valencia; she has held the position for the last 26 years. Lawson says one of the biggest challenges of the job is accommodating the school's growing number of international students. "Some students didn't have very good English and were afraid to speak. Now it's gotten much better, as we make sense out of things together. It's a very big challenge, but it's wonderful and very rewarding." Lawson says that she tries to emphasize fun in the classroom. "It is important to make mud pies. To play around with movement is important." CalArts also has a mentoring program to encourage communication and understanding between faculty and students.

In addition to their work in higher education, Juilliard alumni also demonstrate leadership at the secondary school level. Alumnus Jefferson Todd Frazier graduated from Juilliard in 1994 with a master's degree in composition and founded a program for middle school and high school students in Houston called the American Festival for the Arts (AFA). The festival's mission is twofold: providing music education and performance opportunities for youth, and broadening the audience for American works and classical music. To achieve these goals, the program presents an annual summer music conservatory and concert series. This acclaimed regional music education program—with faculty from all over the country—takes place annually during June and July on the campus of Episcopal High School in Houston. The daily curriculum for 12th-grade music students from the greater Houston area includes orchestra, chamber music, private instruction, music theory and history, jazz ensemble, and composition. The most recent (2001) conservatory class enrolled 138 Houston youth from 47 different Houston area middle and high schools.

Jefferson Todd Frazier

Frazier said he was very much impacted by his experience at Juilliard—especially after a course he took with Edward Bilous, professor of literature and materials of music. "He came in one day and said Los Angeles County had just let go of its last music teacher. It really hit home as we realized that a whole generation was going to go through school without having any exposure to music." Frazier knew he wanted to bring music back to young people and to keep it alive in the United States, in the face of reduced arts budgets at many school districts all over the country.

The Juilliard experience was also an extremely valuable factor behind Fletcher's professional success. He says, "I felt, in those days, that Juilliard wasn't necessarily always a happy place, and I made many observations of things that a school could do—and which Juilliard now does—to be a happy community: having a residential center, so that undergrads have more of a life; encouraging each department to act as a whole on behalf of all its students, instead of acting in studio factions. And lastly, to give students time—because, in New York, it can all be a rush towards the stage. People need different amounts of time to be ready."

For those looking to pursue a career in education, Frazier has some advice: "Research a wide variety of employment opportunities in the arts, not just performing. Look at being an artistic director for a smaller nonprofit organization; consider management, and learn how a nonprofit works. You can still be in the field and earn a living, and it's a viable way to feel you're still contributing to the field of the arts (and still have time to practice and take freelance jobs)."

Juilliard alumni continue to use their experience and education in less traditional ways, some contributing to the world of the arts in careers other than those as performers. By championing the arts within education, they shape this country's artistic future through its young people.

Meredith Gordon is development associate for national advancement.