A Case for Partnership: Conversation with the Utah Symphony | Utah Opera

The Well believes in the power of collaboration and partnership, harnessing our collective strengths to create a brighter, more inclusive future.

Mindful Music Moments (MMM), our signature program that brings a daily experience of calm and world-class music into schools, is no exception. Born out of a collaborative pilot, we now partner with more than ten performing arts organizations across the country to bring the program to 350 schools nationwide.

This 2023/24 school year, MMM is piloting an exciting new partnership with the Utah Symphony | Utah Opera (USUO). What started as an idea for 5 schools, has rapidly expanded from high interest to now 24 schools in Greater Salt Lake City.

Bryce Kessler –Director of Music & Arts at The Well– talked with Ben Kipp –Director of Education & Community Engagement at USUO– about the goals, impact, and hopes for this growing collaboration.

Ben Kipp, Director of Education & Community Engagement at Utah Symphony | Utah Opera

KESSLER: How did you hear about MMM, and what made you interested?

KIPP: I’ve personally been meditating for quite a while, and it’s just helped me in every way. I think there’s a growing faction in the West that people are seeing the benefits and the very direct practicality of the skills you can build without needing to get a degree or take a bunch of classes. In my previous job, I had done similar practices with students, and I was literally trying to build something that The Well already does, combining these mindfulness and creative practices with classical music. I talked to a web developer, which was going to be too expensive, and in the “Googling” for alternatives, I found The Well. It was a hand-and-glove situation. It’s super accessible, and it’s something you don’t need to sell anyone on. And it fits in seamlessly with the rest of the programming we have here (more on that later).

I wanted to have something that was going to offer daily impact. Something that would get into the students’ minds as many days of the week as we could. Our orchestra and opera Resident Artists perform over 200 times in schools each year and MMM serves as a perfect ‘on-ramp’ in addition to offering so many integral skills.

Unfortunately, our state boasts pretty high depression and suicide rates for a variety of reasons*, so it was very inspiring to know we can offer a program that sees people and gives them a place to find themselves through our art forms. What I love about the MMM experience is that it gives you tools for developing awareness and the language to open up about yourself and connect with others. I started meditating at 25. I needed that as a 25-year-old. Imagine how much farther along I would have been if I had started it at age 10.

*According to the 2023 Utah Student Health and Risk Prevention survey, over 70% of students in Utah in grades 6-12 felt moderate to high symptoms of depression, and around 17% said they seriously considered attempting suicide. Source: https://sumh.utah.gov/data-reports/sharp-survey

KESSLER: What were some of the first responses to MMM from USUO staff and board?

KIPP: I was able to talk about MMM at an all-staff meeting, and you could sense the joy of what this could offer to so many people. Having a mindfulness practice is something that is personally important to me, and talking about my personal experiences, similar to the experience MMM offers, really brought the organization together in a different way. Sharing my personal experiences with mindfulness helped the staff connect to one another outside of a major project. MMM gave me an avenue to be vulnerable with my colleagues and talk about myself in a way that wasn’t self-aggrandizing or egotistical, and people just got it.  It’s something we could all get behind together.

KESSLER: What were some of the first responses to MMM from teachers?

KIPP: There really wasn’t a lot of convincing. People knew our institution and understood that what we were doing was of quality, could be trusted, and was going to be effective. 

In the pilot year, I wanted to start with Salt Lake City School District because they are physically closest. I met with the District Arts Coordinator in the spring and his excitement was overwhelmingly positive. He invited me to do a 2-hour session during summer teacher orientation and we did a Mindful Music Moment experience live with the educators. The most powerful interaction that week was during a break when a dance teacher came up to me with tears and was unable to find the words saying, “The fact that you all are there for us as teachers…” 

I knew what this could do, but seeing it in action is a whole other thing. The data [for arts education and mindfulness] is there, the experience is there, but then you see it and think, This is why we’re here. It’s an exceptionally special thing.

KESSLER: How do you see MMM supporting USUO’s mission?

KIPP: Our mission is to connect communities through great live music. USUO Education & Community Engagement is distinguished for its broad and significant impact throughout the entire state of Utah. We do over 250 performances annually in schools for teachers and students, plus plenty of events at our home venue, so education in the community is a big part of us.

MMM complements things so well and is also walking us down a new road to ask, “How do we measure what we’re doing?” We know as artists and musicians that the art form impacts people and can create better humans and communities, but with some of the impact data from Mindful Music and knowing what we do on such a large scale, we are thinking differently about how we measure what we do beyond ticket sales and donations. It helps us think outside the box. 

KESSLER: How does this fit into your existing education offerings at USUO?

KIPP: Being able to take a practice that is super effective, super impactful, and not that complicated to implement and have it be a part of their regular curriculum, there was that opportunity [for our education offerings]. MMM fits that gap and complements our many Education & Community Engagement offerings perfectly. Schools can hear the repertoire and then come experience a performance either at the concert hall or at their school. It’s something that adds to the experience of USUO, not feel like a replacement of it.

We see every school district on a three-year rotation, so they’ll see USUO in their school every two years in a row, between our Resident Artists and Orchestra in addition to the programs we host in our venues. But here's a resource you can log into and do for five minutes a day. It reaches students and teachers in a way that doesn’t ask a lot of them besides a few minutes. And so far teachers have loved that you're not handing them a piece of curriculum or a lesson plan that they need to adapt their teaching around.

BRYCE: What do you hope MMM brings to your community?

KIPP: I hope it reminds us and gives us the tools to respond, not just react. I love the fact that it connects us to our community on a more regular basis and it shows that we can be a resource for them in addition to concerts, creating these moments of deep learning support.

I also recognize that MMM is not for everyone, and that’s okay. To the people who may have more questions about MMM, I hope that the question becomes the answer. Asking questions is our purpose. If you don’t know the answer, love the question. I’m not a professional meditation teacher, but asking more questions about mindfulness has helped me get to this great place of not always needing an answer.

What I deeply love about MMM is that it is for everyone exactly where they are right now. I think this program can be offered to high schoolers, third-grade, college students, families… it's inherently moldable for the individual without needing to change the content.

BRYCE: What advice would you give to other orchestras?

KIPP: Two things: The cost is very affordable for most organizations, and the workload on the staff is minimal. When we’re thinking of programs that can reach a high number of people and don’t require me to rework this into someone's job description, it feels super practical to implement. It is the all-time biggest no-brainer in this field of work. 

KESSLER: Any final thoughts?

KIPP: I’m a fan!

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