Suzanna Robinson Laramee | Newport Music Festival CEO, president and interim executive director
“Only connect,” E. M. Forster’s best-known quote from “Howard’s End” has been my mantra for many years. These two words fortify me daily, and with the uncertain road ahead, they provide for me a clearer path to find the constant in our lives. All we really have is each other, and for centuries, music has been a vehicle to connect us all, in good times and in times like these.
My daily playbook now:
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Comfort – Get comfortable with uncertainty.
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Collaboration – Find your true and natural partners in the community, then press on, find new partners, perhaps strange bedfellows at first, and endeavor to find out how you can help each other.
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Creativity – We should always be looking to build something even better and make it new again.
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Education – At the Newport Music Festival we are learning how we can safely assemble at concerts, make our artists and audiences feel comfortable and choose repertoire and ensembles best-suited for open-air venues.
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Curiosity – Ask your patrons and partners to share their stories about your organization. This is a golden opportunity to look at your program with a fresh perspective.
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Introspection and self-care – This is not only to discover what is important but what makes us feel alive and connected: family, art, music, literature, food, theater, sports. Now that we have emptied out our lives, what meaningful choices will we make to fill them up again?
