5 minute read
Conversation: Markus Gottschlich
Executive Director, Warehouse Arts District Association
Jazz Composer & Musician
ST. PETERSBURG - From his no-nonsense office in the ArtsXchange’s Tully-Levine Gallery, Markus Gottschlich gets down to business. He’s got a lot to manage promoting and supporting local artists and handling the everyday management and programming of the ArtsXchange campus as Executive Director of the non-profit Warehouse Arts District Association (WADA).
He’s also working on getting his trio into town for a performance during the annual St. Petersburg Jazz Festival in early April, and a few weeks later there’s a wedding to attend. His own, that is, to longtime girlfriend and business partner Vicky Lang.
“It’s a busy time,” he says with a shrug and a smile. One soon learns “busy” is a way of life for Gottschlich. A native of Vienna, Austria, he describes a life devoted to musical study, both classical and jazz piano, and meaningful work supporting the arts. His multifaceted career as a musician, composer, Steinway Artist, educator, and nonprofit executive has taken him around the world.
He landed in Miami Beach for 14 years, where he served as artistic director of the Miami Beach Jazz Festival until 2016. In 2018, Gottschlich assumed the role of Executive Director at the New Mexico Jazz Workshop, revitalizing the organization’s festival, concerts, and educational initiatives. After a temporary move back to Austria, he accepted the WADA position in St. Petersburg in 2022.
Along the way, he found time to record three albums, touring with international jazz artists such as Federico Britos and Jose Javier Freire. The April performance with his trio at the St. Petersburg Jazz Festival was his Tampa Bay debut (outside of the ArtsXchange office) where he introduced the audience to his original enchanting and creative blend of music.
Since opening in 2017, the ArtsXchange has been the nucleus of the city’s Warehouse Arts District and home base for WADA, a cultural non-profit founded by sculptor Mark Aeling of MGA Sculpture Studio. The 5+-acre property sits like a triangle in the midst of a vibrant urban arts community bordered by the Pinellas Trail and 22nd Street South.
The campus features 29 working art studios including Mark Aeling’s massive MGA Studio, the impressive Soft Water Gallery & Studios (home to fine arts painter Carrie Jadus), along with education and event space. Second Saturday Art Walks, public art classes and workshops, concerts and other events are a constant draw. “We did 128 events at the ArtsXchange just last year,” says Gottschlich.
During a recent interview, he spoke about his lifelong passion for music and the arts, and his accomplishments during his two years at the helm of WADA.
When did you start studying piano?
Music has been part of my life since I was very small. I grew up in Vienna surrounded by culture with a family that was keen on nurturing the arts. My grandmother insisted my brother and I take piano lessons, so I was classically trained. But as a teenager I was fascinated with boogie and blues because it was not taught so much, so I was always trying to learn that.
How did you make your way to St. Pete?
This is actually my second time around. I came here at 17 and attended Admiral Farragut Academy for one year, then moved to New York City for college, then jumped around a bit. I lived in Miami Beach for 14 years where I got into arts education working for the Miami Beach Jazz Festival and curating youth music programs.
During the pandemic I decided to go back to Austria to see if I could help out my family. I got a job at a music conservatory but after so many years of living in the states, I think I was just too “American” by that point and I wanted to come back. When I heard about the job here in St. Pete, it sounded very interesting, something new and challenging.
How would you describe your music and how did you nurture it?
I am more of the old school way of learning the craft of music from one person to another rather than through institutionalized learning. In Miami Beach, I studied with pianist Mike Gerber who is immensely talented. I like to describe my work as uplifting world music, because it’s influenced by the people and the cultures I encountered during my time in Miami as well as my travels … South American, Israeli, Middle Eastern, classical, jazz, the American songbook and great American jazz composers are all a big influence.
***
Eager to move the conversation to the ArtsXchange, we set out on a walking tour in which Gottschlich clearly beams with pride. We pop into a small dance studio where a young ballerina is practicing her routine for a competition this weekend.
“I was so happy when we were able to bring in the Academy of Ballet Arts last year. More recently, we became home to Foodie Labs (working kitchens). There is a multifunctional stage for concerts and movies, and Seven C (music store) has live music on weekends.”
Pointing out an open field on the edge of the property along the Pinellas Trail, Gottschlich is looking into the future.
“We need to extend our mission from studio space to live/work space and workforce housing,” he explains. “It will be a major capital campaign over the next three to five years, but it would provide affordable housing and studio space for artists who are being priced out of the market here.”
Chalk up one more idea for the Markus Gottschlich busy list.
