Christopher Powell’s unique position as Director of Administration and Community Engagement at The Glimmerglass Festival allows him to work on many new initiatives for the festival.  His leadership is required to address projects across various departments such as marketing, planning, artistic administration, public relations, and community engagement. The Glimmerglass Festival, located in Cooperstown, NY, is an internationally renowned summer opera festival, which produces four new productions a year. Before joining Glimmerglass, Powell served as Music Administrator at Pittsburgh Opera for fourteen seasons. 

Kevin O'Hora: What are the apps you use every day and why do you like them?

Christopher Powell:  Facebook: I mostly enjoy staying current with friends and colleagues. Occasionally, I use Facebook as a human resources tool as part of a last check on job candidates, artists, or anyone interested in internships with our company. I’ve also tried some excellent recipes from some very creative friends.

LinkedIn: A very powerful tool for networking. I am impressed how it can be customized and how relevant scholarly articles are at my fingertips. It takes some effort to manipulate networks, but one can make relevant connections whether searching for a job, seeking professional advice, or finding deeper insight from the field.

Flashlight: Upstate NY is blindingly dark at night since there is little to no light pollution from any urban center. Without my flashlight app, I would have run face first into several trees while walking from my car to my house 

KOH: Is there an app you think developers should be working on? 

CP: Yes. The Glimmerglass Festival app! CMU developers are welcome to contact me to get it done.

KOH: Is there an app that surprised you with its usefulness? 

CP: I use Spotify frequently and probably should have listed it as a daily app. I’ve been able to use Spotify not only to research hard to find repertoire in future season planning, but I’ve also been able to use it to help me sleep, help me relax, and definitely dance (but not in public).

KOH: If you could recommend one app for every arts manager, what would it be?

CP: The NYC subway app. At some point, every arts manager will have a course, seminar, conference, performance, meeting, and social engagement in NYC – the center of the arts universe. Cab fare is expensive. Uber surges are insane anytime it rains in Manhattan. The subway app is a must to get around like a resident.