What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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JANUARY 12-18, 2020 WHAT'S UP! 39 Katy Henriksen JOCELYN MURPHY NWA Democrat-Gazette S ome know her as the voice behind NPR affiliate KUAF's "Of Note." Some know her as the co-founder of the Trillium Salon Series — a concert series tearing down the boundaries of classical music that literally began in her living room. Some know her as an arts and culture journalist and musician herself. But however you know Katy Henriksen, you still may not know all the exciting moves she's made in service to the Northwest Arkansas arts scene. Q. You've experienced some major professional developments this year. Can you give me a brief outline of everything that's happened? A. This year was a sea change for me professionally. I made the difficult decision to step down as host of my classical music show "Of Note" on KUAF, which I'd had for eight years, to pursue huge projects including founding a nonprofit organization, launching a nationally distributed podcast and building my own public relations firm for artists. Trillium Salon Series, which started in my living room as a concert series dedicated to re-imagining the way we experience classical, new and experimental sounds, has grown into its own nonprofit organization. We just received the IRS letter in December. In March we'll have guitarist/composer Thomas Echols as our first artist-in- residence. I've dreamt of having an artist-in-residence program ever since I moved back to Fayetteville [from New York City] in 2008. My podcast has been in development for about a year now with the Critical Frequency Podcast Network, picked by Ad Week as network of the year. Called "Sound Off," it will feature interviews with musicians and composers whose sound doesn't fit in anywhere because it blurs boundaries. The third component is with public relations. With Northwest Arkansas' rapidly growing arts sector, I saw a need for public relations services expressly for independent artists and musicians. In addition to signing my own personal clients I also, as of August 2019, direct publicity for the composer-run new music label New Amsterdam Records based in NYC. Q. Why did it feel like the right time to leave "Of Note?" A. I loved hosting "Of Note." And I loved connecting with listeners and bringing new sounds directly to them, as well as having such an amazing platform to highlight music and the arts through my interviews in the show. I run into to listeners all the time who are sad that they don't hear me on the air anymore. KUAF itself is in a huge transition after the founding station manager Rick Stockdell announced his stepping down, meaning KUAF was seeing a sea change of its own. So, it felt like it was the right time for me to look ahead at my podcast and dream big for Trillium — two projects that I wanted to grow and fully form — which would have been impossible if I kept a full-time role as music director. Q. How do you see your role, or what do you aspire for your role to be, in the NWA music community? A. I want to both cultivate community through music and elevate the musical scene of Northwest Arkansas, particularly for music seen as "concert hall" music such as classical, new and experimental, as well as participate as a music journalist on a national level. I want to be a connector who helps composers and musicians find each other and become collaborators. Q. What does the next five years look like for you? A. In addition to growing the Trillium concerts, I'd love to have more artists-in-residence and workshops. I've long been obsessed with the independent art school Black Mountain College, which was around in 1940s North Carolina and brought together Bauhaus greats Josef and Annie Albers with avant-garde giant composers John Cage and poets such as Robert Creely. I'm also wanting to grow Trillium to include arts media and education, as media literacy, including arts media literacy are seminal for having a vibrant arts community. I hope my podcast grows and perhaps turns into a syndicated program (if those will even exist in five years, haha) to reach as many listeners as possible. I also love writing literary nonfiction and as an essayist, so I'd love to do a lot of that. It's my favorite thing to write, but I always push it aside for work that pays. — Katy simply has too much going on to fit in one story. Visit the online version of this piece to read her full interview at nwadg.com/whatsup. Arts journalist carving her own path in NWA Photo courtesy Meredith Mashburn "When I graduated with my arts journalism master's in 2003 I thought I needed to be in NYC, LA or another huge city so I could pursue a career as an arts and culture journalist," Katy Henriksen says. "Turns out that I can be right here at the center of an incredible music and arts landscape that's only just begun." PEOPLE TO WATCH