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Art perseveres and often grows stronger in times of hardship. At the MSU College of Music, that’s evident through the number of students collaborating online to up their momentum during the era of COVID-19.

Since Summer 2020, dozens of students have joined online cohorts to bridge the loss of social interaction and live performance levied by the pandemic. Originally dubbed “quaranteams,” the online groups provide a safe and supportive space for students to exchange feedback on creative or entrepreneurial projects. Students meet once a week in small groups of peers from MSU and two additional universities. The cohorts have been so well-received they’ve become part of the mix of non-credit, career-enhancement programs offered through MSU, as well as partnering institutions.

“Our students have really demonstrated that creative thinking can thrive even in adverse circumstances,” said Christine Beamer, director of career services and music entrepreneurship at the MSU College of Music. “If anything, constraints can spur artists to find new gateways to self-expression and innovation, and to find ways to share ideas with others and the world.”

Cohorts in the making

Beamer enlisted her counterparts from the University of Michigan and the University of Colorado-Boulder to launch the online teams last May. Since then, the groups have grown and evolved, and provided fertile ground for graduate and undergraduate students to network and engage in constructive discussion.

As Covid-19 restrictions lifted, the groups began taking on new purpose and direction. While the groups still provided a means to break social isolation, members and organizers saw the value of continuing to roll-out cohorts for professional and artistic collaboration. To reflect the shift, the name “Quaranteams” was dropped, and replaced with a name that more aptly described the purpose.

Today, more than 50 students from the three universities have participated this year in Career Development Cohorts. An average of three to six groups run each semester focusing on creative or professional projects, and the groups are facilitated by graduate students or by Beamer and her Michigan and Colorado colleagues. Jeffrey Leung was among several key facilitators and led one of several creative-based cohorts while completing his DMA in saxophone performance during the 2020 fall semester.

“Building community is central to the cohort,” said Leung, who graduated in December 2020 and now works in music promotion, performance, and education. “If you have an interest in pursuing a skill or project, these cohorts give you access to a community of people who can keep you accountable and serve as resources.”

Leung’s virtual group consisted of students from the three universities, further underscoring the networking value of not being constrained by geography.

“These cohorts take advantage of what Zoom can do well,” Leung said. “They engage us, give us a way to support one another, and connect us with people across geographical boundaries. It’s a time when you can grow and be part of a community you normally wouldn’t have access to.”

University of Colorado-Boulder associate professor and director of the Entrepreneurship Center for Music Jeffrey Nytch agreed and pointed to the value of continuing some virtual activities in a post-Covid world.

“These cohorts are an example that remote learning and collaboration can work really well,” he said. “How else would we bring together students from three different institutions to encourage each other, hold each other accountable, and exchange ideas? It’s been brilliant.”

The virtues of virtual

Cohort members aren’t the only beneficiaries of the virtual groups, said Jonathan Kuuskoski, chair of the Department of Entrepreneurship and Leadership, and director of the EXCEL Lab at the University of Michigan. Graduate student facilitators also gain invaluable experience related to leading and collaborating in a non-academic setting.

“This kind of mentorship training opportunity is very hard to create internally at an institution,” he said. “These groups, in particular, mimic the dynamics of working with others in a non-academic fashion.”

Gala Flagello is a second year DMA student in composition at U-M and co-facilitated a career development cohort. She said working collaboratively with the small group provided her solid leadership experience, and a chance to fine-tune techniques for guiding constructive criticism and discussion.

“Everyone has something to offer,” she said. “It’s a matter of tapping into what they feel comfortable sharing. One of the best things I learned to do as a facilitator is to encourage questions and conversation. That skill has translated to my private teaching as well.”

MSU DMA student Natalie Law participated in cohorts last summer, fall, and again this spring. She agreed that being part of the weekly group helped keep her accountable for her project that dovetails with her bassoon performance studies. Her online business, “Building a Bassoonist,” is continuing to grow and take shape, with the goal of offering an online academy for young bassoonists of middle- and high-school age.

Law said she doesn’t typically have much opportunity to talk with people in the trenches of doing entrepreneurial things. The cohorts fixed that. Because of the feedback she’s received from group members, she’s on track to launch the curriculum and academy component in August.

“These groups really have been a silver lining to the pandemic,” said Law. “We never would have structured the groups this way, and we wouldn’t have been connecting with people from different places so easily. It’s a great accountability group, and it’s been really good to talk with others who are in the middle stages of projects and need help figuring things out.”