{"id":1010,"date":"2020-11-18T17:06:20","date_gmt":"2020-11-18T22:06:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/cdcc\/?page_id=1010"},"modified":"2025-05-08T10:05:48","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T14:05:48","slug":"artist-profiles-series-jenna-richards","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/cdcc\/artist-profiles-series-jenna-richards\/","title":{"rendered":"The CDCC Artist Profile Series – Jenna Richards"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n The CDCC Artist Profile Series – Jenna Richards\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

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Jenna Richards – Biography<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Before completing high school, Jenna Richards had earned her ARCT diploma in both piano and violin, studying in her native Halifax. Jenna completed her Bachelor of Performance (piano) at the University of Toronto, garnering consecutive Glenn Gould Scholarships, the Fey Hethrington Scholarship, and the Lydia Wong scholarship for excelling in instrumental collaboration as well as many Nova Scotia Talent Trust Scholarships. Jenna\u2019s passion for collaborative music has led her to perform at Tuckamore Chamber Music Festival (St. John\u2019s), the Four Seasons Center for the Performing Arts (Toronto), Ottawa Chamberfest (Ottawa), Centre d\u2019Arts Orford (Quebec), National Arts Centre (Ottawa), Festival Pontiac Enchant\u00e9 (Quebec), and for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra\u2019s \u201cYoung People\u2019s Concert Series\u201d among many others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marrying her love of music and arts programming, Jenna completed her Master of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership degree at Carleton on full scholarship to pursue a multifaceted career. Currently, Jenna is Artistic Administrator for Ottawa Chamberfest, working on programming their approximately 150 events a year, while maintaining a busy performance schedule and accompanying the Ottawa Classical Choir and Canadian Centennial Choir. In her spare time, Jenna loves to travel, play soccer, and spend time in nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CDCC Artist Profile Series – Q&A<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Q.<\/strong> Tell us about the multitude of artistic roles and responsibilities you currently manage? What is a favorite part of your career?                                                                                                                                               <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A.<\/strong> I thoroughly enjoy being a \u201cportfolio\u201d artist – meaning, always having many things going on. I\u2019m a performer, administrator, programmer, researcher, and mentor. I\u2019ve been involved in orchestras, with choirs, at both Ottawa-based universities, and with many cultural hubs in the city, and I hope to continue this kind of kaleidoscope of activity even during this unprecedented time. My favourite part of my career is the fact that I am never bored…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q.<\/strong> What drew you to completing a Master\u2019s in Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership at Carleton?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A.<\/strong> When completing my undergraduate at the University of Toronto, I was already performing quite a bit, and I was heavily involved in the nonprofit world. I wanted to marry those two worlds, so I chose to pursue the MPNL degree to further develop my \u201cbusiness\u201d skills and ability to lead organizations and productions within the artistic community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q.<\/strong> What was it like to rehearse and host performances at Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A.<\/strong> I\u2019ve performed solo, duo, opera, choral, and chamber performances at CDCC. I\u2019ve also hosted many, many concerts, and I\u2019ve even been a speaker for The Walrus Talks series. Every role is a bit different, but CDCC is a constant. It is a stunning space, with a warm, resonant tone, and a strong community feel. I have always loved performing there, and I think artists from around the world recognize its special quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q.<\/strong> What advice would you offer to someone trying to pursue an arts administration career?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A.<\/strong> It is hard to say what to offer in terms of advice specific to arts administration. However, I would say that saying yes to as many opportunities as possible early on, even if it creates a lot of work for yourself, can help build your network and connections in a meaningful way, and perhaps you\u2019ll fall in love with things you never thought would become part of your career. You have to make your own luck! The arts are beautiful in their diversity, and it always amazes me how much there is to explore\u2026 you just have to find something you are passionate about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q.<\/strong> How has your work been impacted during COVID-19?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A.<\/strong>  Well, having a portfolio career, there have been some things that have completely stopped. I have missed dozens of performances, a major music festival, countless choir rehearsals, travelling to other cities to perform, and substantial cuts to programming. Not to mention just generally making music with other people. However, there have been opportunities created by the constraints of Covid-19 as well. For instance, I\u2019ve finally had time to tackle some challenging pieces I always wanted to learn but never found the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q.<\/strong> Were there any interesting projects you completed during this quarantine time?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A<\/strong>.  I\u2019m happy about the research I\u2019ve had time to start and there are some major projects in the works\u2026 Also, Chamberfest has been producing twice weekly chats since early Spring and we\u2019ve had many international artists on board so that new initiative has been keeping me busy. It\u2019s great to see many familiar faces from our regular audience (now on zoom and participating in the hundreds!), and to hear what other artists are doing during Covid-19. Keeping in touch is so important in times like this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Since in September, Chamberfest has been hosting a live streaming series at CDCC.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow our #CDCCartistprofiles<\/a> Twitter thread to track when new profiles are added each week this fall!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here<\/a> to return to The CDCC Artist Profiles Series main page.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jenna Richards – Biography Before completing high school, Jenna Richards had earned her ARCT diploma in both piano and violin, studying in her native Halifax. Jenna completed her Bachelor of Performance (piano) at the University of Toronto, garnering consecutive Glenn Gould Scholarships, the Fey Hethrington Scholarship, and the Lydia Wong scholarship for excelling in instrumental […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cu_dining_location_slug":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_page_type":[35],"class_list":["post-1010","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","cu_page_type-general"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/cdcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/cdcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/cdcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/cdcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/cdcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1010"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/cdcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2556,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/cdcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1010\/revisions\/2556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/cdcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_page_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/cdcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_page_type?post=1010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}