#228 Matthew-Lee Erlbach- Co-Founder of Be An Arts Hero & More!
This week’s guest is Matthew-Lee Erlbach. Matthew-Lee is a writer, actor, and filmmaker from Chicago and New York, whose work largely focuses on erased histories as well as the impact of technological revolutions on capital, labor, race, spirituality, and democratic movements. He also writes comedy. It’s dark. He loves pudding.
A proud graduate of the public school system from K-College, Matthew-Lee created a writing program for single mothers transitioning out of homelessness and prison and is a team leader for Habitat for Humanity, locally and globally. He is the Director of Government Affairs and Public Policy for the Arts Hero campaign and co-founder of Arts Workers United, where he is lobbying for a landmark Arts & Culture worker relief bill he co-wrote, called the DAWN (Defend Arts Workers Now) Act.
For his organizing, activism, and policy work on behalf of Arts Workers, he has been interviewed/featured in multiple national media outlets including NPR, MSNBC, CNN, PBS, WGN, Washington Post, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Crain’s Chicago Business, Chicago Reader, and Playbill, among others. He is also an advocate for ethical AI and ethical transhumanism.
He has received support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Laurents/Hatcher Foundation, Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation, Puffin Foundation, was a member of Ars Nova's Play Group, MVMNT Theatre’s Play Group, is a HUMANITAS New Voices recipient, and is a proud member of the Dramatist’s Guild, WGA, and SAG-AFTRA.
Matthew is the co-founder of Be An Arts Hero.
Happy Birthday!
Happy birthday to (friend of the show) Carter McLean. Carter was born in San Francisco and shortly thereafter moved to Connecticut. This is where McLean listened to and fell in love with music and especially the drums. At age 10, he started his journey as a musician. Broadway wasn’t even on his radar when he started working at Manny’s Music in Manhattan just prior to 9/11. The self-taught musician had just wrapped up his studies at University of Colorado, Boulder and was hoping to land a gig with someone like Sting, Peter Gabriel or Paul Simon. But then, while working his shift and playing at the store, he got noticed by a vet of Stevie Wonder’s band Dennis Davis and got invited to play with legendary musician Roy Ayers in Harlem. While touring with Melvin Sparks in 2002 McLean was approached to be a sub at The Lion King in NYC. This eventually lead to McLean taking over the chair at the hit show in 2011.
From Charlie Hunter to the Lion King on Broadway, McLean has been busy touring and doing studio work as well as having a busy teaching schedule. In addition McLean has shared the stage or recorded with Jamie McLean, Greg Holden, Charlie Hunter, Victor Wooten, Anthony Hamilton, Bernie Worrell (Parlament Funkadelic), Fred Wesley (James Brown), Shelby Johnson (Prince), Melanie Gabriel (Peter Gabriel) Leni Stern, Matt Duke and many others.
Gig Alerts
Wednesday May, 12th at 8pm EST, Paris Monster (featuring friend of the show Josh Dion), will be doing a live streaming show from the Relix Channel over on Twitch. It’s FREE!
Also, the Governors Ball Music Festival released their lineup and you can get tickets on their website.
Educational Spotlight
There are some sample lessons for the 42nd Leigh Howard Stevens Marimba Seminar.
Product Reviews
Our friends over at the Conga Chops website have released some new swag on the merch shop. There are some new T-shirt designs featuring different conga, bongo and timbale players.
Iconic Recording
This week’s iconic recording is the song “Move On Up” from the album ‘Curtis’. ‘Curtis’ is the debut album by American soul musician Curtis Mayfield, released in September 1970. Produced by Mayfield, it was released on his own label Curtom Records. The musical styles of Curtis moved further away from the pop-soul sounds of Mayfield's previous group The Impressions and featured more of a funk and psychedelic-influenced sound. The album's subject matter incorporates political and social concerns of the time.
Musician – Robert Lewis, Clifford Davis (drums), Donald Simmons, Elliot Golub, Gary Slabo, Harold Klatz, Harold Dessent, Harold Lepp, “Master” Henry Gibson (percussion), John Howell, John Ross, Leonard Druss, Loren Binford, Patrick Ferreri, Philip Upchurch, Richard Single, Robert Sims, Ronald Kolber, Rudolph Stauber, Sam Heiman, & Sol Bobrob.
“Move On Up” starts at about 0.30 in on the above video. The “Master” Henry Gibson conga solo is in the below video.
“Move On Up” and other great songs are featured in the Pop Percussion Iconic Tracks Playlist that Damon and Marcos Torres created over on Spotify.
Music News
Governor Cuomo announced that Broadway will be back in New York City with shows opening September 14 with show returns to be announced. Tickets are already on sale, so get yours now! -Article
Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced a $25 million arts and culture revitalization program, City Artist Corps, which will employ over 1,500 artists by putting them back to work throughout New York City with live performances, pop-up concerts, public art installations, and more.
De Blasio said May 6 that the City Artist Corps is inspired by Franklin D. Roosevelt's Federal Art Project, a part of the Works Progress Administration that came out of the New Deal to revitalize the economy after the Great Depression.
“We want to put artists back to work, so they can go out in every community in NYC and engage New Yorkers in fun and enriching experiences this summer,” said Gonzalo Casals, the city’s cultural affairs commissioner, during a press conference. In addition to providing an economic boost to the city, Casals said “it’s also the presence of arts and culture in our community that makes for safer, healthier, and more cohesive communities.” -Article.
This week’s episode is sponsored by Eucatape. Use Eucatape15 at check out for 15% off your order.
Matthew-Lee Interview
The song leading into and out of the interview is “Break Through” by The Funkees. It was a track that Matthew used for one of the recent film projects he was involved in.
Matthew attended the University of Illinois and the Boston Conservatory.
Matthew talks about playing on buckets and busking. Remo makes some drumheads, specifically for that type of drumming. If you are going to busk in NYC, you should get a permit so you don’t get in trouble.
This is the scene from Trading Places that Damon refers to with Eddie Murphy.
Matthew is the co-founder of Be An Arts Hero.
The two main things Matthew points out in the beginning is having a Secretary of the Arts and Culture in the President’s cabinet and having federal legislation (like the DAWN act) will help.
What is an Arts and Culture Secretary? This is the best definition Damon found for the Arts and Culture Minister that already exists in other countries and cultures. The culture minister (aka Minister of the Arts and Culture) is typically responsible for cultural policy, which often includes arts policy (direct and indirect support to artists and arts organizations) and measures to protect the national heritage of a country and cultural expression of a country or subnational region. This responsibility usually manifests in the accompanying ministry (also called a "department"), governing and cultivating (but not limited to) the following:
an official registry of protected historic sites and other sites of cultural importance
maintaining national archives of cultural work, including public museums, galleries and libraries
creating a department or ministry of culture or arts
creating arts councils, which disburse funding to artists and arts organization
providing funding to artists and arts institutions
Matthew compares the proposed cabinet position to the NEA (National Endowment for the Arts) and the NEH (National Endowment for the Humanities).
Our arts and entertainment sector in the USA currently employs 5.1 million people and provides $877 billion value added to the economy. It adds MORE VALUE than transportation, agriculture, or tourism (which have cabinet positions). Our sector is a cornerstone of the larger U.S. economy, making up 4.5% of GDP. Due to Covid-19, 63% of Arts Workers report that they are fully unemployed. 94% of Arts workers report income loss; to date, the average Arts worker reports $23,500 in lost revenue this year. Due to Covid, 66% of Arts workers report they are unable to access the spaces, staff, resources, or supplies needed to perform their work.
Damon and Matthew talk of the importance of the psychology of arts.
There are some museums already in place (The Metropolitan Museum of Art/MoMa, etc) to preserve the visual arts, but the performing arts have often been left to fend for themselves (while being called upon first to donate their services, sometimes for free, to support other industries and sectors of government and the economy). There are some museums out there to preserve music like The M.I.M., The National Museum of African American Music, The National Music Museum, and these. Matthew also mentions the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Damon later mentions the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Matthew mentions how the Secretary of Arts and Culture should work with Governors, Mayors and Congresspeople on CEDS (Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy). Simply put, a CEDS is a strategy-driven plan for regional economic development in the community.
Damon mentions how the cabinet position can work with the Musician’s Union (and all of their chapters) as well as the various PROs-Performing Rights Organizations (Ascap, BMI, SESAC, and other organizations like Sound Exchange and the Harry Fox Agency).
Matthew talks about working across agencies for mutual benefit. He talks about how Americans for the Arts has already started laying the ground work for this and more.
He mentions THE PLAN that Americans for the Arts has put together. Basically an arts “New Deal”.
Damon mentions that there are representative orchestras in each state, most provide salary and benefits, but there are no major Jazz orchestras (or big bands) aside from the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra that do that. Jazz was INVENTED IN NEW ORLEANS, and is uniquely an American art form (as is Rap/Hip Hop-created in the Bronx), whereas classical music was developed in Europe.
Damon mentions the Jazz Foundation of America.
Matthew talks about the correlation of healthcare to employment.
Damon talks about the “Letter to Senators” you can sign.
Matthew mentions NIVA (National Independent Venue Association) and their Save Our Stages Act, which passed as part of the COVID-19 Relief Bill.
Damon mentions a few other organizations.
They are an alliance of working musicians, performers, and songwriters fighting for a healthy creative economy and fair treatment for all creators in the digital world. They work to defend and protect artists, guided by their Artists’ Bill of Rights, which outlines fundamental principles for today’s music economy.
This is their proposed 'Bill of Rights'
The Right to Control Our Work – the ability to decide when and on what terms our creative works are performed, reproduced, or distributed, and the ability to assign these rights to partners of our choosing.
The Right to Economic and Artistic Freedom – including the right to fair market value compensation for creative work on all platforms at all times and a music ecosystem that incentivizes creativity, breadth and variety, diversity among creators and styles, and that nurtures and supports the next generation of artists.
The Right to Attribution and Acknowledgment – including ready access for all audiences on all platforms to credit information and liner note materials.
The Right to a Music Community – including fully funded public arts education and support for non-commercial performances and works so that creative opportunities, expression, and connection are open to all and society is broadly enriched by as many forms of art and as much artistic participation as possible.
The Right to Competitive Platforms – including channels of distribution, communication, and social media that are competitive, transparent, accurate, secure, open to all on non-discriminatory terms, protective of user privacy, and free of industrial scale piracy and any other commercialized theft of our work.
The Right to Information and Platform Transparency – including effective audit and transparency rights with respect to all platforms, services, and companies that use, distribute, or monetize our work.
The Right to Political Participation – including the ability to advocate for the recognition and protection of all these rights without retribution, blacklisting, or retaliation from distribution channels, platforms, or partners; and the elimination of restrictions on organizing and collective action in support of such advocacy.
NITO
National Independent Talent Organization (NITO) is a non-profit 501 (c) 6 organization that was founded by a group of like-minded US based independent talent agencies and independent management companies for the purpose of promoting the welfare of our members and their represented artists. NITO advocates for the direct benefit of our members as well as for the indirect benefit of associate members represented in a broad coalition of entities in the live touring ecosystem.
Touring Professionals Alliance
The Alliance was started by a group of like-minded Tour and Production Managers who joined together to find ways to help our touring families as they struggle with unprecedented financial and emotional hardships caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. We are still a community, and we are better together.
Matthew talks about joining Be An Arts Hero after the other TEAM MEMBERS had started it.
There are different ways you can GET INVOLVED. Matthew talks about how to bring it up to your local and state leaders and elected officials as well as what wording will help get their attention. Some key points are how important the art instillations are to you, good paying jobs that are created, tax revenue, enriching and funding the schools, and more!
Arts Alliance Illinois, NYSCA, and the Los Angeles County Arts Commission are a few of the lobbying organizations to help.
Damon talks about how the arts can make you smarter and how you can cross pollinate into other “core courses”. Matthew talks about how this can work with other arts (visual mediums) and applied arts through education and helping with socialization.
Damon and Matthew talk about balancing daily life and pursing the arts as a career.
Matthew is technically a lobbyist. TLDR, a lobbyist is a professional advocate that works to influence political decisions on behalf of individuals and organizations. This advocacy could lead to the proposal of new legislation, or the amendment of existing laws and regulations.
Matthew goes into some details about what is in the DAWN Act.
Some of the groups they worked with were the American Theater Wing, Costume Industry Coalition, The Dance Theater of Harlem, Here Arts Center, Carnegie Hall and more to put together the "Proposal to Revive And Rebuild The New York State Creative Economy”. You can read more IN THIS ARTICLE and also SIGN THIS PETITION. All of this is to be included in the ARP (American Rescue Plan).
You can follow Matthew on his Website and participate in the activism over at Be An Arts Hero. You can also follow him on Twitter and Instagram and Be An Arts Hero has social media pages on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as well.
Matthew’s favorite deep dish pizza can be consumed at Lou Malnati’s and Pequod’s.
Besides the aforementioned organizations, there is also the Music Workers Alliance. MWA is an organization of, by, and for independent music workers. We came together because we are fed up with unfair treatment and lack of benefits, contracts, and representation. MWA’s shared purpose is to activate our power as music workers to create a community where music is valued financially and culturally and music workers benefit, and achieve dignity in our lives by engaging in collective action. Any self-identified music worker who supports the mission of MWA may apply to join MWA as a member.
Theater for Young Audiences is another group. TYA/USA is the leading national organization for the professional field of theatre for children and families, representing nearly 900 member theatres, organizations, and individual artists across 42 states. Dedicated to ensuring that all young people have access to high-quality theatre experiences, TYA/USA offers a variety of programming and provides a network of exchange that connects professionals working across the industry.
There is a new bill that was passed this spring to help musicians called the Music Modernization Act. The MMA updates the music licensing landscape to better facilitate legal licensing of music by digital services. It also provides certain protections (and exceptions to those protections) to pre-1972 sound recordings, and addresses distribution of producer royalties.
There are other organizations that have been established to help provide temporary Covid relief and resources, like this one, this one, this Grammy one, and these Broadway ones.
In addition, The New York Times' podcast, 'The Daily' had an episode talking about how the economy is affected. One of the points related to the above information is that from the 22mil jobs lost in March, about 12mil have come back over the summer. Of the remaining 10mil, 9mil are service jobs (mostly 1099/subcontracted workers). This includes people in the Arts/Entertainment industry. You can listen to (or read the transcript) by CLICKING HERE.
