Robert A. Reed, the new executive director for the Multicultural Arts Initiative, has traveled the globe as a musician and an administrator for various symphony orchestras.

But it's a trip he took as a fourth grader in Louisville, Ky., that may have made the biggest impact.

Stepping onto a school bus in his best dress clothes, the excited 10-year-old was on his way to hear the Louisville Orchestra on a field trip that for him was more about getting away than it was about the arts.

But as he listened to the orchestra from his seat in the balcony, he was struck by the music.

DIVERSITY MATTERS
A Special Report

Exploring efforts to build a culture of inclusion that reflects our community.

• Strengthening diversity adds multiple perspectives to corporate issues
• Experience guides diversity officer's efforts to go beyond traditional programs
• City's outreach efforts build for the future
• Multicultural Arts Initiative's new director broadens perspectives
• Commentary: Benefits of diversity outweigh the fears it evokes
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• Bridging generation gaps brings more folks into the fold
• State forced to confront growing Latino population
• White men are often missing from discussions about diversity (with video)
• Commentary: Companies benefit by developing more inclusive work environments

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"The impact was just so strong, I knew immediately as a fourth grader that that's what I wanted to do," Mr. Reed recalled. "When I got back to school I went that same day to the band director and said I wanted to be in the band."

He asked for a clarinet and he's been involved in music ever since.

Mr. Reed, 44, took over the helm of Initiative about a month ago, coming here from Arizona where he was the former administrator and orchestra manager of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra.

The Initiative is a funding and advocacy organization that supports culturally diverse arts programming with an emphasis on African-American programs. "I've always wanted to be able to give back to my community, the African-American community, because the community has always been good to me," Mr. Reed said.

He called his position at Initiative a combination of giving back and doing something in the arts that is just "an intoxicating opportunity."

The tenacity he exhibited as a child has served him well, he said, as he's pursued avenues not usually traversed by African-Americans.

As a sixth grader he told his parents he needed private music lessons but they could not afford them.

After doing some research he learned that the University of Louisville awarded scholarships for private lessons and arranged to audition. However, the night before the audition he realized he had left his music at school. Undeterred, he auditioned anyway.

"I think they were so stunned that a scrawny little African American kid just went in there and played for a half- hour from memory, from sixth grade on through high school I had lessons," he said.

He holds a bachelor's and a master's degree from the College Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati.

Even his parents, who supported his pursuit of music throughout elementary and high school, did not expect him to stay on that path for college.

They thought that as a student who excelled in math and science, he'd become an engineer.

"My parents never looked at [music] as a career," he said. "I think they felt growing up in the hood, it is something that would keep me off the street."

After college, Mr. Reed decided he no longer wanted to be one of 100 musicians in a symphony orchestra and applied for an arts administrator fellowship with the New York Philharmonic.

"Not thinking it's going to go beyond the application process," Mr. Reed said.

To his surprise, he was selected as one of the 36 finalists and ended up taking his first trip to New York City. He won the position just before the orchestra was headed for a six-week Southeast Asia tour.

While, he'd traveled to Europe with his college orchestra, touring with the New York Philharmonic put him on an entirely different level, he said.

"I get my own room, I'm meeting some of the world's greatest artists (opera singer Jessye Norman among them). I'm getting to see a whole different world."

Over the past few years, Mr. Reed said, he realized he wanted to broaden his perspective to see how other people work and operate. "I just find that fascinating," he said.

Now he has a chance a chance to do that in his job at the Initiative because the organization is involved with a variety of artists.

It gives him the opportunity to deal with everything from dance to spoken word to a Native American exhibition.

In addition to providing funding, giving artists encouragement is also part of the Initiative's mission.

"It's challenging them to dream," he said. "[It's telling them] you don't have to accept mediocrity. You can do this."

Monica Haynes can be reached at mhaynes@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1660.