The Global Leaders Institute recently met with 2023 Cohort Member Maria Mathieson, Executive Director of Peabody Preparatory, to discuss the importance of scaling Peabody’s impact in Maryland.
To provide context on Mathieson’s work, The Peabody Preparatory is Baltimore’s premier community school for the performing arts. The Institute has long been a model for community arts engagement in the US. Music lovers worldwide recognize distinguished Preparatory alums such as violinist Hilary Hahn, composer Philip Glass, singer James Morris, choreographer Martha Clarke, jazz pianist Cyrus Chestnut and pop singer Tori Amos.
Supported by Mathieson’s leadership, Peabody Preparatory is preparing to launch its 5th campus in September 2023 in Frederick, Maryland. In partnership with the YMCA of Frederick County, Peabody teachers will offer private violin, viola, cello, guitar, and piano lessons at the Y Arts Center in downtown Frederick for students of all ages, backgrounds, and skill levels. With multiple campus locations in Baltimore, Towson, Annapolis, and Howard County, the Peabody Preparatory currently serves about 2000 students weekly with private lessons, group classes, and structured instrumental, vocal, and dance instruction programs. This new addition promises to reach hundreds of additional dance students yearly.
Maria, congratulations on your initiative. How did you spearhead this opportunity?
I’m happy to share about this new initiative. The Peabody Preparatory currently offers music and dance instruction at four campus locations in and around Baltimore, MD, so the east side of the state of Maryland. Still, this new campus expands our operations into the west side of MD and begins our expansion from a Baltimore-centric process to a statewide presence. We developed a partnership relationship with the YMCA to become their music partner in their new arts-focused space. I’ve been working closely with the leadership of the YMCA and local Frederick Arts leaders to help develop the partnership and work towards opening this campus location in the Fall.
What is your vision concerning scaling Peabody Institute’s impact? How do you think this campus development contributes to local arts leaders?
For me, opportunity was one of the main drivers behind scaling our operations. The Preparatory currently serves over 2000 students weekly with our current footprint, and expanding opens the chance to help additional students and their families throughout Maryland.
I also want to create expanded value and enhanced partnership opportunities for our students with the YMCA by becoming their music partner in their arts-focused facility. Our campus in Annapolis is within a similar arts hub, and being part of that community brings significant value and opportunities for our students and their families, so mirroring that experience was attractive to replicate in another district.
In addition to building opportunities for students and families, providing jobs for local musicians based in that area is another critical area of commitment to the Frederick community. I’m not just having instructors travel from Baltimore to teach but hiring musicians who live and work there. This strategy is something that I have focused on in the Preparatory. By hiring local artists, I’m able to provide jobs and, importantly, here in the US, the potential pathway to access benefits as I’ve worked to create a path for instructors to build their studio size within the Prep, which, as they add additional hours and days of teaching, can grow their portfolio to become full-time faculty.
Finally, what will you work on next?
I’m working on two additional projects in the Prep for next year. One project is related to a larger scale project within Peabody which is building towards creating a Center for Performing Arts and Health, which will include a community-focused arm called Peabody Prescribe, which provides community-based programming at the intersection of arts in health and medicine. This year we are beginning to pilot several initiatives, including dance and guitar programming for people with Parkinson’s, a COVID choir, and exploring establishing a choral experience for those with cognitive decline and their families. The other focus is developing programming for Peabody Pro, our professional development focus, partnering with the learning innovation team here to create online courses and extended learning experiences. Next year, we will offer classes around Peabody’s free open educational resource, The Path to Funding, focusing on developing business and entrepreneurial skills today’s artists need to build sustainable, satisfying, and rewarding creative lives in the 21st century.
About Maria Mathieson
Maria Mathieson is the Executive Director of Peabody Preparatory at Johns Hopkins University, the community music and dance school of the Peabody Institute. Since 2018, Mathieson has overseen the artistic education of 2000 students of all ages, disciplines, and skill levels.
About Peabody Institute
George Peabody founded the institute that bears his name in 1857 as the first conservatory in the United States. The Peabody Institute has remained a leader at the intersection of art and education through its focus on excellence and innovation. Originally established as a community cultural center, Peabody today advances a 21st-century model of the performing arts, building on its rich history of innovation and leadership. Whether enrolled in the Peabody Conservatory or the Preparatory, students embark on lifelong practices of experimentation and authentic self-expression. Since 1977, the Peabody Institute has been an affiliate of Johns Hopkins University. As such, the Conservatory is uniquely positioned to offer the focused training one expects of a traditional music school within the more extensive network of the university’s world-famous centers of research and learning in the sciences, humanities, and medicine.
