Baylin Artists Management to close after 28 years of music, theater and dance bookings • DanceLand

Nobuntu – Cula

(Doylestown, PA) – In November 1999, the Shakers of Sabbathday Lake, Maine joined the Boston Camerata on stage at Lincoln Center in New York City, performing traditional Shaker chants and spirituals the two groups had previously recorded together. A community that at its peak numbered nearly five thousand members, there were only seven Shakers left by the end of the twentieth century, and they made three rare public performances with the Camerata at Lincoln Center in New York, at the University of Vermont, and Chicago. Austin Baer wrote in Atlantic this “[the Shakers’] Home delivery is a touching contrast to the tactful and unaffected polish of the professionals.

These bittersweet and never-repeated performances were born out of the efforts of Marc Baylin and his then relatively new agency, Baylin Artists Management, founded in 1993. After 28 years with his own business and 36 years in the field of artist management , Baylin Artists will cease operations in June 2021.

Circus Mechanics – Birdhouse Factory

“I was in college on Tuesday and working in artist management on Wednesday,” Baylin said of the start of his career. Her first job was with a Philadelphia-based artist management company, but after eight years, at the age of 30, “I decided that if I ever had to have my own business, I had better start. “

The navigation was not very smooth at first. An artist manager with no artists to manage, Baylin first tried to have his own table at one of the conferences he had attended for years in his previous job. “I tried to attend my first conference and take an exhibition space, but they said, ‘No, you really have to have artists if you want to have a table,'” Baylin laughs. .

Artists would come on time, sure, but what Baylin had from the start was strong relationships with presenters and performing arts centers, and a keen instinct to negotiate collaborations and build unique projects.

Flamenco Vivo / Carlota Santana

While its very early performers were almost exclusively classical and chamber musicians, Baylin was expanding its client base to include theater, dance, and world music. Over time, the firm has represented a wide range of notable artists and companies, including the Suzanne Farrell Ballet, the Iceland Dance Company and PHILADENCO, the Bang On a Can All-Stars and the Turtle Island Quartet, and projects starring actors Julian Sands, Jasmine Guy and the late Kim Hunter. For Baylin, expanding the roster was a strategic move, going beyond a single genre but still hoping to retain the authenticity.

“I really wanted it to reflect my personal interests because if I was personally moved by what the artist was doing, it was more likely that I could be passionate about it.”

Cirque des R̻veurs РA Room in Paris

In addition to the Boston Camerata tour with the Shakers, some of Baylin’s career highlights include facilitating the very first American tours of several international artists and ensembles, such as the UK’s Theater Re and their production “The Nature of Forgetting ”, addressing dementia. , family and memory; Circo Aereo from Finland; Cirk La Putyka from the Czech Republic; Nobuntu from Zimbabwe; and the Art of Time Ensemble of Canada. He has also facilitated commission projects with composers Michael Daugherty, Anthony Davis, Joe Lovano and Julia Wolfe. A collaboration between the Turtle Island Quartet and the Ying Quartet, commissioned by the Lied Center in Kansas, resulted in a Grammy Award.

Baylin assembled curators for a screenplay on the legacy of Robert F. Kennedy, which resulted in a nationwide tour of LA Theater Works. His first project with LATW was The great Tennessee monkey trial by Peter Goodchild, based on 1925 Scopes trial transcripts. The tour coincided with the nationwide debate on the intersection of science and religion.

Just as Baylin’s decision to open his business arose out of a desire to start something new that he could develop, his decision to close it now stems from a proactive need to understand his next chapter as he pleases. The possibilities remain incredibly ambiguous and include staying in industry, consulting, teaching, or something entirely different. But retirement is the last thing Baylin thinks about.

While it seemed like the right time for Baylin to make this transition, his decision was not easy: some clients have been with him for over 20 years and feel like family. His main priority at the moment is to build a strong 2020/21 season for his artists, which will include major tours of The Alehouse Sessions of Oslo, Theater Re, Aquila Theater, LA Theater Works, Cirque Mechanics, Nobuntu, Julie Fowlis and the rest. .

“Part of the great joy of being in a business like this, aside from the incredibly creative people around you, is finding projects that no one else can or getting there before someone else. ‘other,’ says Baylin. “I won’t take any credit for creating the art, but we are responsible for setting up some projects that might not have happened. It was time and effort well spent and very rewarding.

Press release Via: Baylin Artists Management