New Radicals

Today, I read about Julia Moulden, who has authored an idea called "New Radicals" about how regular, everyday people can change the work they do to make a living, to help save the world. She alludes to social entrepreneurship, but approaches everyone's ability to give back more broadly. I liked this column, where she poses six questions for "Emerging New Radicals" because as I read them, I found them quite similar to the questions I posed to myself when I decided to go to grad school for arts admin a couple years ago: How can I contribute seriously to the world I am a part of? What do I love to do, what am I good at, and what things meet both qualifications? Now, what do I need to do to get there? Answering these questions for myself keeps me focused. I want to be a festival director; because I believe art and community activity have the ability to greatly influence quality of life for many people; I like to organize, coordinate, think, plan, and execute. A graduate degree will give me good preparation to do these things, in both the title and knowledge it totes. Focusing on these questions also has prepared me with a decent response when people ask, "Arts what? Administration? Is that, like, museums?" I always happily explain, and almost always get, "Wow, what a cool job." I am so very fortunate to have found something I like, I'm decent at, and that makes a contribution.