"We are a wonderful, small, unpretentious, cooperative, supportive school for pianists. This is all we want to be."
-Edwine Behre, Founding Teacher
This newsletter offers a comprehensive overview of our activities and initiatives. I understand that not everyone may want extensive details, so I’ve summarized the top twelve topic areas. You can simply read the summary and conclusion, and if you’re interested, read the sections that matter most to you.
Summary, a Breakthrough Year
This year has been nothing short of transformative for the Adamant School. Through various initiatives, the Board reduced the operating deficit by $52,000 even while beginning to address years of deferred maintenance of the School’s buildings. Exceptional summer programming continued, with a long-standing tradition of extraordinary faculty artists. We significantly elevated volunteer engagement, made capital improvements, reversed the enrollment decline, and achieved a record number of student applicants. We created a new partnership model for additional summer programs, completed key capital improvement projects, and tapped into new revenue sources by inviting outside groups to use our campus during the off-season. We strengthened the Board with additional expertise and created Adamant’s first comprehensive Strategic Business Plan, a roadmap to sustainability. While we have momentum, we are far from out of the woods. To secure our future, it is crucial that we execute the initiatives outlined in our Plan. The Board has stabilized Adamant, averted a potential shutdown, and positioned the School for another summer of excellent programming next year, while launching initiatives to help Adamant thrive for future generations of piano students and faculty artists. Following are key areas we focused on and the results:
Financial Records in Excellent Shape
Our financial records are in outstanding order this year—likely the best they’ve ever been. While this may seem mundane, it is crucial for professionalizing our operations, increasing efficiency, and enabling us to apply for substantial grants that require organizations to demonstrate strong financial management practices. Starting in January, we implemented a new bookkeeping structure. Don Allen, our Board Treasurer, spearheaded this initiative and has dedicated a remarkable amount of work throughout the year, including during the peak summer months. We can now run detailed reports to pinpoint where we most need to work on improving an area. Additionally, this will provide us with the necessary information for our first annual report, which we will release in early 2025 for the calendar year 2024.
Record Number of Student Applicants
Last autumn, upon reviewing prior enrollment data, we learned that enrollment had experienced a slight but steady decline starting before the pandemic. On average, master class participation was soft (for both performers and auditors), and the Traditional Session saw reduced enrollment years ago requiring the reduction of a faculty position. To address this, we discussed and identified the factors impacting enrollment. Roberta Rust, an advisor and faculty member, led a task group. Our efforts included targeted solicitation activities, identifying new target audiences, selective advertising, and more impactful messaging explaining what makes Adamant special. Combined with a competitive analysis conducted by the board, led by First Vice President Steve Wasko, and a major pricing strategy change, we boosted enrollment by 28% over the prior year, achieving a record number of applicants in recent history. Our pricing strategy was grounded in principles of consumer behavior and marketing. That said, this is just the beginning of implementing marketing-driven principles that will lead to progressively stronger enrollments. We still have opportunities to enhance our programming and improve retention rates. For instance, our Traditional Three-Week session had no returning students from the 2022 class to 2023 with little improvement from 2023 to 2024. However, this challenge can be solved through the engagement of faculty, board members and staff. With this summer near capacity, we may consider offering another Traditional Session, aligning with our goal of expanding our programming to further generate revenue for our school.
Revitalized Sleeping Accommodations
We established an ambitious plan in the spring and we made much-needed improvements to 34 bedrooms. We covered the costs by using a small portion of the savings generated from improved management of our operational expenses. We purchased new, high-quality box springs and mattresses to replace most of those purchased in 1984, of which many were not only worn but also had mildew issues. I felt we should maximize the size of mattresses specific to each room, not only for Adamant participants but also to accommodate outside organizations as we seek to generate additional revenue. While we still have some twin beds, most are now doubles, queens, and even a few kings. Additionally, we have replaced old cracked or stained bedside lamps, added new hangers in the closets, provided extension cords with adapters, installed fans in every room and studio, added mirrors for each room, and for the first time, introduced headboards for every bed. In meetings with the housekeeping team, we learned that they had traditionally struggled to turn over rooms between sessions due to the extensive laundering required. We resolved this issue by ensuring that each room has two sets of linens, allowing one set to be ready for immediate use while the other is being cleaned for the next session. We ordered double sets of all new white linens, including breathable mattress protectors, mattress pads, sheets, summer coverlets, and comforters for cooler evenings. Additionally, we acquired new white towel sets that can be sanitized as part of our regular laundry service and meet best practices in hospitality. We also negotiated pricing to outsource our laundry services, enabling housekeeping to focus on thoroughly cleaning our facilities. In fact, our laundry expenses decreased when factoring in our internal labor costs. Our objective was to ensure that the updated rooms were ready for faculty and students upon their arrival while maintaining Adamant’s rustic character.
Reality of Building Maintenance Challenges
We have a beautiful campus; however, essential maintenance on our buildings has been deferred for decades. After two consecutive years of substantial flooding in Vermont, our buildings, including the studios, suffered from damp conditions. We purchased equipment for mildew and mold remediation, which we used in each room across every building. While this has been helpful, much of the moisture still comes from the ground and seeps into the walls. The Annex, which has been in marginal condition for years, had to be closed this summer. We have some ideas to try to reopen it without substantial expense, but that solution will only last a year or two before it will need to be closed or demolished. We have logged many issues across our campus and are prioritizing what needs to be addressed first. This is no easy task, as the high-priority fixes are too numerous to tackle given our current financial position. As part of our Strategic Plan, we are developing a capital budget for the first time, setting aside funds for necessary improvements.
Preserving and Enhancing Barney Hall
Barney Hall epitomizes Adamant Music School, as it is our historic building where it all began 82 years ago when Edwine Behre founded the school. It was time to upgrade this space. Several issues affected Edwine's suite as a living area, including the presence of lead paint, which made it uninhabitable. In the process of rebuilding, we added several enhancements, including an ensuite bathroom, and made other changes necessary to ensure code compliance. The unforeseen need to remove leaded paint could not be addressed during the summer sessions for safety reasons. Additionally, we needed to replace the half-bath off the dining hall to make it ADA compliant, following an inspector's warning. Last winter, we collaborated with an engineering firm to design a new septic system, as the previous one had completely failed in the last weeks of 2023. We put the new system out to bid, negotiated a favorable price, and construction was completed this past spring. We renovated one of Barney Hall’s upstairs bedrooms to showcase how the spaces could be rehabilitated. We had layers of flooring removed (dirty carpet and linoleum) to expose the wood flooring, which, when sanded and recoated, revealed the original beauty of the home. The door and trim were replaced, rusty baseboard covers were updated, and fresh coats of paint were applied. With new beds, linens, a lamp, and a mirror, the room remains simple but cozy, clean, and bright for Adamant attendees, which is necessary to attract outside organizations. We will soon roll out a campaign that I believe will fund the remaining bedroom and bathroom renovations, with details forthcoming at the start of the new year. Finally, we are bringing heat into Barney Hall. This upgrade enhances the utility of our building, making it available throughout the year. After extensive research into various systems, we installed an efficient boiler this week, providing heat throughout the building. The upgrades to Barney were completely funded by operational savings from other areas. This investment will generate new sources of revenue that will support this financial approach for future campus upgrades.
Taking Care of Our Pianos
It is essential to give our 47 grand pianos the attention they deserve. A comprehensive program includes environmental controls, maintenance, the rotation of newer pianos to replace those at the end of their life or too costly to restore, a creative piano donor program, and seasonal tuning. Given the saturation from flooding and humidity, we needed to take immediate action. Many studios required some work, and several had to be closed. As a first step, we procured and installed dehumidifiers in each of the 27 piano studios, and will see long-term benefits from this next spring and summer, making our mold and mildew remediation efforts permanent. Tuning was not optimal this year due to the humidity problems and that we could not afford a proposed 50% increase in tuning costs to $30K by our former technician. Instead, we established a partnership with Boston’s North Bennet Street School (well-known for training piano technicians) and a highly-regarded Vermont-based senior technician. However, we needed to work on scheduling challenges to ensure better presence. This summer’s experience with this new arrangement will lead to improvements in this area next summer. In addition, through communication with donors, we secured two excellent pianos and developed plans that will yield many more over time.
Strengthening Philanthropic Efforts
Like most non-profit organizations, we cannot support our ongoing operations without a well developed plan for cultivating a donor community and initiating fundraising campaigns. Historically, this crucial function has been absent at Adamant. We have been meeting regularly as a volunteer Development Task Group and launched a campaign, “Year in Remembrance and Celebration of Menahem Pressler,” in collaboration with Alvin Chow and Angela Cheng. We held a virtual meeting attended by Indiana University and a few Adamant alumni, where participants shared moving stories and funny remembrances. Afterwards, it was exciting to hear participants encourage us to follow up with more events. Our goal is to build a community of hundreds of former Indiana University and Adamant Pressler students, with the intent of hosting several events throughout the year. However, we have fallen short in this area—not due to a lack of desire but because we lack sufficient people to do the work. While we engaged a consulting firm, we quickly realized they were not meeting our needs. Essentially, we have too many irons in the fire across all our Adamant initiatives, but we are addressing this resource problem by hiring a full-time, experienced Development Director (more below). One exciting event being planned is a benefit concert to be held in NYC in January, led by Dorien Spelbrink and Mark Jaffe (please let them know promptly if you are interested in participating). As a donor and advisor, Dorien has been advocating that we focus on our development efforts. We couldn’t agree more, and I am eager for us to launch a membership program, release Adamant's inaugural annual report, continue our work with the Pressler legacy, and initiate various campaigns, including a planned giving program. Each of these individual efforts requires significant work to roll out and sustain which can only be handled by a full-time professional. Substantial back-end efforts have been completed by our Board’s First Vice President, Steve Wasko, who has implemented our donor-management platform to help facilitate many of the aforementioned activities.
Inaugural Partnership Program: A Resounding Success
We explored a new income source for Adamant by partnering with tonebase, an online subscription platform for classical music education that boasts over 25,000 paid subscribers and global market reach. This initiative was the brainchild of Noah Hardaway, Secretary of the Board. The idea is for tonebase to offer their piano enthusiasts programs at Adamant in addition to their usual online materials. We negotiated a business arrangement with the CEO of tonebase, creating a unique revenue-share model that ensures proportional success. The agreement enabled Adamant to run two one-week "piano camps," which tonebase marketed, selling out both sessions in less than a week. As acting summer coordinator as well as faculty member, Noah managed all aspects of the program, including processing applicants, scheduling, transportation, and onboarding, while also overseeing our housekeeping and kitchen staff. Lisa Hardaway provided immeasurable support on a volunteer basis as she had during other summer sessions. The result was a triple win. First, the revenue generated in those two weeks equaled more than half of the revenue from all our Adamant programs combined (Traditional Session and master classes). Second, attendees flew in from around the country and even the world, all experiencing our campus for the first time and loving their time at Adamant. It was a huge hit; in addition to faculty mentoring and practice time, the program included wine and cheese functions, campfires with snacks, and other opportunities for fellowship. Acquaintances and friendships blossomed, as Adamanters know so well. Third, we have the interest of potential new donors, with one individual who has committed to donate $5,000 annually and has pledged support in his will as part of our planned giving program, which is on our list to develop.
Unlocking Revenue: Successful Campus Monetization
Our expansive campus holds untapped revenue potential to support our path to sustainability. We have begun renting spaces to arts organizations or developing partnership programming (such as the aforementioned tonebase piano festival). In the spring, for the first time in many years, Adamant hosted an external, non-piano-based organization, renting part of our campus to a meditation group for their retreat. This summer, we attempted to accommodate a university alumni writing group for a retreat, but our schedules didn’t quite align. However, we plan to make that happen next summer. Last week we had a small wedding group staying on campus, and next week, the meditation group will return for another retreat. Additionally, a piano group from Boston may be utilizing our facilities during the last weekend of October. We invested in the heating system for Barney Hall to accommodate groups during the autumn and spring—periods when our campus was previously idle. One of our goals is to invest in our facilities in ways that yield an attractive return on investment. For instance, the cost of the heating system for Barney Hall will be recouped by renting it out for just 21 days. After that, the revenue generated will be reinvested into our summer programming and capital requirements.
First Ever Strategic Business Plan
A strategic business plan serves as a vital roadmap for Adamant Music School. It facilitates effective resource allocation, helping us direct limited time and funds toward achieving our objectives, and enhances our ability to secure funding. The plan also serves as a framework for measuring performance, identifying potential risks, and fostering engagement among staff, volunteers, and the community. Without such a plan, we risk drifting aimlessly, missing opportunities, and relying solely on the hope that the school will continue, as it has in the past. We are at a critical juncture. Our plan will lay out a clear path for achieving our goals, ultimately guiding our school toward sustainable growth and success.
Strengthening Board Composition
The composition of a board is critical for any organization. Our board, supported by our membership, must be equipped to navigate our challenges by fostering diverse perspectives that enhance decision-making and problem-solving. We need a variety of board members with specialized expertise, skills, and knowledge, which are essential for informed governance, strategic planning, and the execution of our plan. Whether Adamant Music School succeeds in becoming financially sustainable or closes its doors is fully dependent on our board of directors and the staff they hire. The right board composition is a cornerstone of effective leadership and a key determinant of our school’s overall impact and viability. Just two weeks ago, for example, we welcomed Barbara Vacarr to our board. Barbara brings a wealth of knowledge from her experience as President and CEO of Goddard College for four years, later serving as CEO of Kripalu, and most recently coaching executives and consulting for non-profit organizations. Adamant is, in many ways, a microcosm of both Goddard and Kripalu, where Barbara dealt with education, aging campus facilities, enrollment, development, and alumni relations. We are thrilled to have her on board. We continue to search for other remarkable leaders as we expand our board.
Looking Ahead: Our Path to Sustainability
My first year has been a whirlwind, as I’ve pushed forward with as many initiatives as possible while juggling the day-to-day challenges that arise. I delved into the administrative and operational aspects of Adamant, managing contractors, housekeeping and kitchen staff, lawn care and gardening, and facilities management. This gave me a detailed understanding of how things work, along with insights on how we can improve our summer staffing requirements, expectations, and the challenges we can help address. Additionally I’ve gotten to know nearly every inch of our campus, from the basements of buildings to wellheads, and from the exterior conditions of our buildings to inside the walls. The behind-the-scenes operations are critical but tactical in nature. Strategic planning has been notably absent from Adamant’s past, and this is where I believe I can make the greatest impact, drawing on my business experience in rescuing organizations. I am fortunate to work with an exceptional group of dedicated board members who are passionate about helping Adamant achieve its goal of becoming fully sustainable. The board continues to strengthen with the addition of essential professional skills. I have also had the pleasure of collaborating with some remarkable volunteers. The board’s efforts have led to the financial stabilization of Adamant, successfully averting the risk of closure this past summer and positioning us well for the upcoming summer. More importantly, we have initiated activities and set a clear direction not just to survive, but to thrive in the future, so that our school remains viable for generations to come.
Conclusion: Lessons Learned in Strengthening Our Future
An important lesson I've learned is that we cannot effectively run our organization with just a working board, advisors, and one half-time, year-round staff member. While we have outstanding volunteers, they are not enough to meet our needs. We are facing some burnout, and our ambitions are outpacing our capacity to advance all our goals within a compressed time frame. Nonetheless, we must continue to move forward with urgency and deliver on our strategic plan. To address our resource challenges and propel us forward, the board has decided to hire a full-time, experienced executive director and a full-time development director. The executive director must have a proven track record in leading arts organizations, expanding programs, managing facilities, and demonstrating creativity, business acumen, vision, and strong leadership skills. The development director will need expertise in communications, as well as in establishing membership programs, planned giving, and donor relations. We expect both positions will become self-funded within two years through their independent efforts to expand revenue sources and increase donations. Depending on the backgrounds of the individuals we hire, we may also need to recruit a part-time traditional-session coordinator and master class coordinator, which may be one individual or two. Our path to sustainability relies on the expertise of professionals to implement our plan; there are no shortcuts to achieving this. With the addition of full-time professional staff, we will be able to communicate much more frequently with shorter updates. While I had time for only one “open forum” earlier this year, we’ll host live meetings at least three times per year. In fact, I will host an open forum and deliver a formal presentation on our strategic business plan on January 19 at 5 PM. Some big decisions need to be made about our campus, and we wish to give the membership an opportunity to ask questions, propose ideas, and express concerns directly. I will communicate upcoming meetings as we schedule them.
I want to thank those who expressed their enthusiastic support through calls and messages as we work together to create a bright future for our beloved school, Adamant.
Martin Heikel
President,
Adamant Music School
