Kaye Kelly — Building a Sustainable Creative Career Today
About episode 3:
What if your performing arts career was built to last—not just to launch?
In this episode, we sit down with Kaye Kelly — Berklee College of Music professor, singer-songwriter, and author of The Modern Creative: A Practical Guide for 21st Century Artists—to explore how today’s artists can build resilient, values-driven, and financially sustainable careers.
Inside the Episode
Kaye’s book serves as both a field manual and workbook, and together we unpack practical prompts for:
💡 Defining your artistic narrative
💡 Mapping multiple income streams
💡 Making grants and funding opportunities more accessible
💡 We trace how the creative landscape has evolved through streaming, the pandemic, and AI, and why modern artists now thrive by wearing many hats.
What You’ll Learn
💡 Professionalism Reframed – Fast replies, clear communication, preparation, and strategic thinking.
💡 Portfolio Careers – How teaching, arranging, session work, licensing, and arts leadership can create both active and passive income.
💡 Money Matters – Budgeting for unpredictable income, planning for taxes, and starting retirement early.
💡 Community as Growth – Tapping into local cultural councils, public art initiatives, and small grant programs that align with your creative mission.
💡 Creative Habits – Protecting your flow through silence, privacy, journaling, and device discipline.
Key Takeaway
Forget the starving artist myth.
Choose alignment. Guard your time. Let your creativity evolve across seasons.
Who is Kaye Kelly?
Kaye Kelly, a visionary arts administrator, international musician and higher-education specialist, thrives at the intersection of arts, community and social justice.Kaye created and facilitated the first global Cultural Festival in Franklin, MA. The groundbreaking event featured 52 artisan vendors, 10 food trucks, a beer garden and seven international musical acts that culminated in the performance of the Grammy-winning timbale player, Eguie Castrillo and the Mar del Norte Salsa Orchestra. Its success built bridges in a fractured community during and after the pandemic. In its second year, State Senator, Becca Rausch advocated to create a $10,000 line-item for the festival in the Massachusetts State budget due to its valuable impact on the community in cultivating diversity in the arts. Kaye also created the first regional MetroWest Arts and Culture Symposium, partnering with Mass Cultural Council and state wide art leaders. This is now a much anticipated annual event.
In 2023, Kaye was nominated by her state senator to receive the prestigious “Commonwealth Heroine” award at the State House honoring her for her work with arts in her community.
Her personal endeavor, The SheGrooves Collective, is a female-forward band comprised of Berklee faculty and students that is an expression of empowerment and representation. As the founder and musical director of the group, Kaye headlines the performances with a cast of multicultural women. In 2023 the Mass Cultural Council awarded Kaye $8,000 in grants to perform across the state. Kaye was also the recipient of the competitive “Chalk Hill Artist Residency”, a week-long retreat in Sonoma County, CA where she was able to bring the SheGrooves staff to strategize.
A senior professor in the Ear Training Department at Berklee College of Music, Kaye specializes in teacher training and recently authored a 12-week ear training course that will be used to mentor educators at Berklee’s Global Partner institutions. In 2018, she traveled to Valencia, Spain for five months to work with administration to fine tune the Ear Training curriculum. Together they synchronized the department modules with the Boston campus. Kaye created a library of teaching materials and musical examples, mentored the faculty and advised the inaugural first year abroad program students. She continues to work and visit the Valencia campus to work with faculty.
An accomplished songwriter, her songs can be found on ABC, NBS and CBS as well as her songs for social change and gender equity worldwide.
An entrepreneur at heart and a mom of four, she is equally at home running an arts organization or lemonade stand.
All episodes, after publication, are also available in video form on YouTube and Spotify Channels. All are hosted by Elizabeth (Lizzie) Bowman.
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