Composer Frances Pollock doesn’t let obstacles in the development options for artistic projects get in her way. As CEO of the Midnight Oil Collective and Venture Advisor at Yale University’s Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking, she is not only choosing to dream big, but rethinking opportunities for funding and institutional support. I loved the opportunity to talk with Frances about her life as a composer and her work creating networks and systems that allow artists to be entrepreneurs for their own ideas.
Pollock grew up singing in church and playing the piano and took to composition in high school. She attended Furman University for her Bachelor’s in Music where she had opportunities to write opera and direct musicals.
“That opportunity showed me that the university could be a really great support for large scale projects.”
Pollock went on to receive her master’s degree at the Peabody Conservatory of Music and will graduate with her Doctorate of Musical Arts from Yale this spring. Pollock’s main compositional focus and passion has always been musicals and operas, projects that require a large amount of resources to produce.
The Covid-19 pandemic made the lack of institutional and cultural support for the arts starkly apparent, prompting Pollock to co-found the Midnight Oil Collective. When her professional engagements disappeared during the pandemic, she realized there were broader issues around artists’ control over their work and sustainability challenges for artistic productions.
Pollock began to talk with fellow musicians and composers about their experiences in the industry, and quickly realized she was not alone in feeling that “I’m not in any position where I have any influence over the institutions that are going to control whether or not I’m employed, whether I have an income, whether or not this is a sustainable reality for me.”
Some of the topics that Pollock and her friends discussed involved the need for diversity in the academic institution and increased engagement with the public. Pollock believes that the artist should have a say in how their production interacts with the world.
“All of these questions showed me that there was a really powerful opportunity to get in there and to say, ‘We as artists deserve a seat at the table, producing our work in a manner that allows us the benefit of making the decisions of how it goes forward.’”
The first few years of the collective were focused on building partnerships between artists and
working on how to pitch creative narratives to investors who are used to hearing ideas from a tech or science sector. Preparation included “helping the artist create a proof-of-concept (or as we like to call it, a minimum viable product (MVP), and pitch materials such as decks, websites, social media, campaigns, etc.” Pollock explains this work as “aiming towards a more sustainable ecosystem,” because she is working to craft long-term models of funding that imagine futures for artistic products beyond a first run or single concert weekend.
For example, Pollock described the pathway to producing a musical on Broadway as a funnel that narrows far too early. Currently there are only enough resources to fund a few shows through the complete stages of development, which means that many works are being left undiscovered before they can even have a reading. Pollock and MOC are hoping to build avenues for institutional and financial support that provide artists the backing they need at the beginning of project development so they can envision long-scale projects on the commercial market.
For those starting out in the tech industry, it is common to turn to an accelerator program for more opportunities. MOC is working to translate the accelerator model (an intensive and compact program made up of mentorship, education, investor access and funding opportunity) to the arts.
“In focusing on Connecticut as a hub for arts innovation, we’ve partnered with the Department of Economic and Community Development and with the tech transfer office at Yale to do two similar projects. And what those look like are accelerator programs targeted at helping artists build arts-based startups that are supported by the institution.”
Institutional support is key to the vision of MOC. Yale’s tech transfer office works to allow the university to provide support via a seed grant and then “participate in revenue for commercially successful projects”.
“The institutions would be incentivized to fund artists' work by providing seed grants and participating in the revenue of their projects once they commercialize. This gives great incentives to both the artist (who would receive funding and support) and the institutions (who would participate in revenue generation once the project is commercialized).”
MOC’s financial model differs from the philanthropy-driven economic model that usually funds university and nonprofit arts and humanities programs. Pollock is clear that the goal is not to replace this model but to supplement and even strengthen it just as we see in technology and science fields.
“The success of the commercial sector in some ways has engendered the trust that has built up the philanthropic sector in science and technology….We could build up that public trust again in the arts and humanities.”
For Pollock, the university is in a unique position to serve as this innovation incubator.
“Every university is equipped with student resources in terms of their entrepreneurship center or development opportunities, and what those parts of the university are trying to do is empower you to think in a big way.”
Additionally, universities, like arts institutions, are in a moment of lower public trust and Pollock believes that strengthening institutions’ relationships with artists is not only a positive step in building back trust, but also rejuvenating the cultural sector.
“I think that we’re in a world that needs humanity right now, that needs the intersection of culture and nuance, and the ability to tell stories in a way that bridges divides rather than exacerbates them. And I think that when you cut funding from arts and culture institutions, like is our tendency, then you get these sort of heightened polarized personalities that don’t aid in building a humane, collaborative world that I want to be a part of. I think it’s so important that we think about investing in each other’s humanity in the same way that we invest in each other’s physical health or being able to engage with technology. We need a more humane world.”
As Pollock looks forward to 2025, she is excited to complete a residency at Syracuse University this spring. She will also continue to work on an MOC musical theater production titled “The Bridge,” with lyrics and book by Kathleen Wrinn and music by Pollock. On November 21st, the duo and cast presented selections from the musical at Yale’s Morse Recital Hall. “The Bridge” tells the story of the building of the Brooklyn Bridge through the perspective of the wife of the Chief Engineer, Emily Roebling, who truly was the engineer and organizer of the construction herself.
Wrinn and Pollock have been frequent collaborators and are seeing this project not just as a musical that Wrinn has been envisioning for years, but as a launchpad for their new model of production. Pollock layed out a detailed plan for goals for the release of the work with initial performances in Connecticut, then off Broadway, a full franchise and tour, film version, merchandising and a permanent performance venue located near the Brooklyn Bridge and sharing a space with a labor museum to honor the workers who built the Bridge.
“Not everything has to work that way,” says Pollock, “but it’s a roadmap to show the scalability of a show like this.”
When asked what her advice is to other composers, Pollock shared, “I personally don’t believe that music exists separately from the world. And there is a tendency for musicians, composers, who are students in rigorous programs to be singularly focused on music making. I think that it’s so important that we actually fight that part of ourselves and we go into the rest of the university or the rest of the world and we say, "What are the things I don’t know?”
Pollock is living her advice. She has spent her time in the university institution figuring out how to build partnerships and being daring enough to envision new models for artistic funding. She is also a talented composer and artist who isn’t afraid to say that yes, “I want to write big things. I want to write big stories.” She is ready to share what she has to say and is passionate about creating opportunities for other artists to do the same.
It was such a pleasure talking with Frances and I was deeply inspired by her innovation and skill at building new collaborations. It is exciting to celebrate the hard work that is going into crafting an industry, and a more humane world, that we can all see ourselves in.
Fun facts!
- Frances’ favorite foods in the winter are ramen and pho.
- If Frances could travel anywhere in the world right now, she would go to Mexico City.
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Article by Keeley Brooks
Keeley Brooks is a senior at Yale University, majoring in music and studying violin with Wendy Sharp. She is currently working on her thesis, an oral history on violin pedagogue Dorothy DeLay that will be housed as a public archive at Yale’s Oral History of American Music. In addition to playing in the ensemble, Keeley has loved exploring various administrative roles in the Yale Symphony Orchestra from Head Librarian, to co-Social Chair to President for the 24/25 school year. This past summer, Keeley took her first steps into composition while working for the Forest Products Laboratory in Madison where she wrote a piece that incorporates field recordings from a prescribed burn. She hopes to premier the piece at Yale in April of 2025. When Keeley isn’t participating in music, she enjoys teaching fitness classes, spending time exploring outside with friends and family and baking.
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