This week, we were pleased to welcome the newest member of the Music Maker staff, Gabi Mendick, who will serve as our Advancement Coordinator. Gabi is a graduate of Tufts University in Boston, and her duties will spread all across our operation. She’ll help us build and manage our outreach to donors, work on bringing more major gifts and grants to Music Maker, and play key roles in our special events, both the virtual ones we’re producing now and the live ones that will come as soon as the pandemic lifts.

It’s special to us when we find a young person who has not only the skills to help us advance the mission of Music Maker, but also a passion for the roots music on which we’ve always focused our efforts.

Gabi says her first exposure to Music Maker came when she got hooked on “Buffalo Junction,” the 2012 album the late, great Boo Hanks recorded for us with Dom Flemons.

“I mean, it’s definitely not what most of my friends are listening to,” Gabi says, adding a pledge to broaden the connection between Music Maker and young people who are beginning to explore the roots of the music they enjoy. “I think that most people are interested in music and have some sort of passion for it. It’s hard to say why or how you’re attracted to certain types of music. But I think in terms of making other people — and other younger people — interested, you need something in addition to just the music, like a story or another element, another art medium that goes along with it. Those are things that make people a little bit more invested and care more, me included.”

For our entire 26 years of existence, Music Maker has helped people make those connections, tracing the lines between various genres of America’s roots music and the visual arts traditions so closely connected with them. So, we’ve got a treasure trove of material from which Gabi can draw as she dives into her work.

“There’re many years of history of Music Maker that I have to catch up on, and a lot to explore and discover,” Gabi says. “So that’s something that I’m excited for.”

— Tim Duffy