Acclaimed singer-songwriter Sharon Van Etten will visit Athens on Friday for an interview about her experience in the music industry.
Students interested in the music industry have the chance to hear from an artist whose name and acclaim are on the rise.
Singer-songwriter Sharon Van Etten will sit down for an interview Friday at 10:30 a.m. in Glidden Music Hall as part of the Scripps College of Communication’s Visiting Artists Series.
Van Etten has headlined tours and played as a solo artist for major music festivals in the United States and abroad. She has toured and recorded with The National and has released several critically acclaimed albums and EPs.
Josh Antonuccio, a lecturer in the School of Media Arts and Studies, will interview Van Etten. He said the series “focuses specifically on artists, well-known artists and basically exploring their journey and their success and what they’re learning right now and how they’re … carving their niche in the music industry.”
The series started in 2013. Antonuccio said the series has brought in artists, such as Ira Kaplan of indie rock band Yo La Tengo and Jim Eno of the band Spoon. Antonuccio invited Van Etten to Ohio University after meeting her at a few music festivals.
“Sharon’s amazing,” Antonuccio said. “Not only is she a very critically respected artist, she has a huge fanbase … and I’m huge fan of hers as well so I’m just as excited as everybody else.”
Another fan is sophomore Koren McConville, who was introduced to Van Etten’s music in high school.
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McConville, who is studying music production and recording industry, said it’s exciting for OU to bring in woman artists, showing that women can make it in the industry, though she has found herself in man-dominated music production classes.
McConville is a member of Women in Music Industry, a student organization co-hosting the event that is “focused on mentoring connections with people in the industry for women,” according to Antonuccio, the group’s adviser.
“We have these awesome women speaking with us and inspiring all these awesome females in our organization to achieve all our professional goals,” Ellyn Loss, the president of Women in Music Industry, said. “But something we’ve come to realize is that in order to make a change we want to kind of start to invite the men of the music industry to sit in on our events and learn about these incredible females and the impact that they have on the industry and just how important it is to create change within.”
Loss, a senior studying music management and media relations, said Van Etten’s visit is a way to make Women in the Music Industry accessible to everyone, regardless of gender or major.
Van Etten’s interview will be live-streamed. Online viewers can use the hashtag #askoumdia to ask Van Etten questions via Twitter, Antonuccio said.
Later that day, Van Etten’s manager, Zeke Hutchins of Mick Management, will do a Q&A with Antonuccio about artist management. In addition to Van Etten, Mick Management represents artists such as Leon Bridges, Childish Gambino and Walk the Moon.
The Q&A, slated for 2 p.m. in Schoonover 450, is separate from the Visiting Artist Series, but both McConville and Loss said it still is highly anticipated.
“Even if somebody doesn’t like Sharon Van Etten or that wasn’t part of their taste, they could look at Zeke Hutchins’ entire repertoire … all these different artists that he’s acquired a very eclectic taste within his management company,” McConville said. “Bringing (in) other aspects of the industry … is so, so important.”
Antonuccio hopes Van Etten’s visit and future events in the Visiting Artists Series continue to be a resource for students to see artists not just surviving, but also creating space for themselves.
“It’s cool because OU’s one of the few places that does things like this where you can connect directly with an artist. You can go to an event like this where you’re … hearing first-hand and you’re getting insight and perspective that’s unique to the event,” he said.
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