Whether you know it or not, whether you are working on it or not, a culture is developing around your studio.

Either that culture is created intentionally, or it is created unintentionally.

I’ve chosen to build a few strong core values into our studio. Here they are.

1. Wisdom.
2. Integrity.
3. Transparency.

In the last year I’ve been looking for every opportunity– not just in the lesson, but beyond the lesson, to communicate these values.

Every touch point I have with students and parents must be considered.

The physical studio space. Our printed materials. Our studio norms. My personality and catchphrases. Events. Emails. Even this website. These are all touchpoints that point toward a culture.

In any way I can I’ve curated together little details and big gestures that are symbolic or our values. I’ve also looked for ways to make those details and gestures remarkable and unique. The goal is that students and students in our studio enroll in our culture and are able to recognize other members of our crew.

I can’t and won’t control everything, or even most things. But consistency matters. Coherence matters. And our values matter.

Here are some examples of specific decisions we’ve made this with the goal of establishing ‘studio culture.’

WINTER GIFT

Our studio gift for the winter of 2021 was engraved luggage tags that hooked onto students’ violins. The beautiful tags were made by an Etsy shop. They were printed with the student’s first name, their parent’s phone number, and their address.

The tags were incredibly well made and durable. Because they were pre-engraved they communicated a sense of the student’s permanent place in our studio. The tag makes it easier for students to find their instrument. The semi-transparency of the tag was a subtle nod to our value of transparency.

My favorite aspect of the tag is that I haven’t seen another violinist with a luggage tag like it. That means the students of our studio are unique, but can also recognize the unique tag of other students in our studio.

TRANSPARENCY REPORT

I’ll discussed this more in a past post, but a bold gesture of transparency was the report I released at the end of the school year. This is a document I intended just for parents. I thought of it akin to the report an executive director of a not-for-profit might give to their board. Except in my case my board is the families who I’m lucky enough to work with.

On the report I included the size of our studio, the number of students who started this year and left this year, my total number of teaching hours, and my income. Later in the report I discussed the projects launched and teacher training taken over the course of the school year. I concluded the document with a list of projects coming up in the next year.

In sharing the report with parents I was able to allow them to join my team, examining my long term strategic thinking and providing accountability that I will do (and have done) what I say I’m going to do.

STUDIO RECITAL

This school year (22-23) I’m planning a studio exclusive recital at a local museum in town. Not only will the physical space, programs, and programming communicate quality, integrity, and ease, I’m also planning some unusual, memorable shifts from the status quo. I might set up the chairs in a circle. I might ask parents not to record whatsoever. I might give students props like flashlights to use during the recital. This will inject a deeper social commentary into the event–revealing our values of complexity and wisdom.

STUDIO YEARBOOK

At the end of this school year (22-23) I’m going to pass out our studio yearbook. This will include headshots (possibly taken at the studio recital), a note from me to the students, places to sign each others’ books, and notable pictures of events from the year. My goal with the yearbook is again to give a high touch, physical artifact that represents a collective identity. Each child and parent should feel they are part of a group. They are working together with other families to make this dream of artistic expression a reality.

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The values of your studio will inevitably be different than mine. You are different than me. I hope this post illustrates some of the ways in which you may explore interweaving those values into your studio culture more intentionally.