Photo courtesy of Ryan French
When Ryan French ’94 graduated from St. Olaf with a B.A. in Music, he did not plan on pursuing a career in arts administration. Now, almost 30 years after his graduation, French is the Chief Operating Officer of the Children’s Theatre Company (CTC) in Minneapolis.
After French graduated, he stayed involved in choirs, singing professionally, while also working in music publishing. When performing in these choirs, his fellow musicians took note of French’s skillset. “They commented on my ability to help organize what we were doing, and plan the tours we were on,” French said. “[It] led me to explore that as a career.”
A few years later, French landed his first role in the arts administration field, working for the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. He eventually got his MBA with an emphasis in marketing and non-profit management from the University of Minnesota. He continued to work in the nonprofit sector taking roles in marketing and fundraising for both arts organizations and higher education.
Now, French has been working for the CTC for a year. As the chief operating officer, French works on the business and finance side of the theater. “When I had a chance at expanding my role again, the opportunity came for a more comprehensive role, a more executive leadership role,” French said. “The chief operating officer really appealed to me as a chance to bring a lot of my skills into play at a pretty amazing institution.”
French enjoys working in a behind-the-scenes role, and it has given him a new perspective on performing. He said that he feels like he is leaving an impact on audience members, particularly during matinee performances for school groups. “For many of them this is the first experience in a theater space they’ve ever had,” French said. “To be a part of making that happen, making that magic happen, is pretty cool.”
French is also teaching an arts management course at St. Olaf this fall semester. Through the course, he hopes to bring in speakers from his contacts in the professional field and onsite field trips, including to the CTC.
His advice for current St. Olaf students is to take advantage of the Piper Center and learn how to network. “Everything I benefited from in the classrooms would’ve been doubly augmented had I had the opportunity to utilize the Piper Center,” French said.
The Piper Center provides students with resources in professional development and can help connect students to alumni. While French advises students to get in contact with alumni, he also said that any professional connection is helpful for networking and finding a career that works well with your skillset.
French credits the liberal arts education system for developing his professional skills. While he was synthesizing and studying literature in the classroom, he was gaining other skills in the St. Olaf Choir. “On the performance side, as a music major, it taught me to collaborate with others, it taught me how to bridge differences, it taught me how to perform. Part of life is performing and knowing how to present yourself,” French said. “I think that a music major who has that liberal arts foundation, mixed with those skills you build in performance … [those] are raw skills that can transfer to any number of careers.”
As seniors are looking towards post-grad jobs, they should remember that they don’t have to commit to one field for the rest of their lives. French is a testament that there is a possibility for a variety of careers accompanied by a liberal arts degree.
