Work With Me
Let's Work Together
I offer a range of tailored opportunities to collaborate with you and your students, whether in person or virtually. Each engagement is customized to meet the specific needs and interests of your community, ensuring a meaningful and impactful experience.
At the core of my visit is an artist talk, an in-depth conversation where I engage directly with students, faculty, and community members. This session includes a discussion of my creative process, the presentation of draft scores and works-in-progress, live demonstrations of excerpts from my compositions, and insights into the behind-the-scenes development of my projects.In addition to the artist talk, I offer a variety of workshops and masterclasses designed to foster collaboration and critical thinking. These sessions cover a wide range of topics, including composition, performance, improvisation, digital and electronic music, and the cultivation of healthy, mindful artistic practices. Students will have the opportunity to work together, exchange feedback, and receive guidance from me as well as their peers.I am available for engagements of varying lengths, depending on the specific goals and activities you wish to incorporate.
Whether hosting a single session or a multi-day workshop, I am committed to creating a meaningful experience that aligns with the needs of your students and faculty. Additionally, I am open to working with artists and scholars from all disciplines, offering specialized insight into composition, performance, and creative practices across a variety of mediums.Please refer to the outline below for a more detailed overview of the options available for your community.
Lessons/Masterclasses
Composition Lessons, Electronic Performance Practice Lessons, Digital and Electronic Music Lessons
Private lessons with students interested in composition, digital and electronic music studios
- Individual and Group sessions possible
- Single lessons can range between 45-75 minutes per session.
- Group lessons range between 60-90 minutes, depending on the number of students in a studio.
- In-person, virtual, and hybrid sessions are possible.
Composition Masterclass
Group masterclass featuring students’ works, group discussion, and exploration into composition techniques within the works.
- Group sessions
- Group sessions range between 60-90 minutes, depending on the number of students in a studio.
- In-person is ideal, hybrid sessions are possible.
Writing for Electronics Masterclass
Group masterclass centered on techniques and strategies on writing for electronics, featuring students’ works involving purely fixed electronics and/or electroacoustic projects.
- Group sessions
- Group sessions range between 60-90 minutes, depending on the number of students in a studio.
- In-person is ideal, hybrid sessions are possible.
Composition Readings
Composition readings of miniatures featuring your students’ works and collaborations with performance studios within your school.
- Group sessions
- Group sessions range between 60-90 minutes, depending on the number of students in a studio.
- In-person is ideal, hybrid sessions are possible.
Workshops
Wellness Workshops for Musicians, Artists and Scholars
Individual and Group sessions possible
- Single day workshops can range between 45-90 minutes per session, depending on what elements you would like to include in each session.
- Multiple day workshops are also possible and can be uniquely tailored and scheduled according to your community interests and available time.
- In-person, virtual, and hybrid sessions are possible
Each workshop can be uniquely tailored to align with your community goals and interests. I’ve provided some examples of what we can do together below:
- Discussion & Activity on mindful practices to cultivate and maintain healthy artistic, research and work practices, and maintaining physical and mental health during the creative process.
- Discussion & Activity on cultivating positive mindsets around artistic practice and scholarly work - connecting with the WHY behind your work, discussions surrounding values and definitions, success, and failure, etc.
- Workshop on posture, spinal health, and aligning body - injury prevention, pain management, and strengthening exercises.
- Workshop and class on breath-work to support diaphragm and respiratory health, increase breath support, release tension, and balance the mind.
- Discussion & Activity on navigating tensions, stress, and fatigue that can arise during busy seasons including deadlines, performances, exam periods, research projects, etc.
- Inclusive, gentle movement classes to support spinal health, relieve physical tension and stress, alleviate fatigue and align the body.
- Guided awareness and meditation classes to balance nervous system, process and release stress, and connect with breathing.
- Sound bath experience including grounding exercise, incorporating sound and vibrational healing practices to create a safe space to rest and recharge.
Visiting Artist / Artist Residency
Each artist visit can include a variety of activities depending on the length of the visit and your communities needs and interests. Possible inclusions:
- Artist Talk
- Individual lessons (see lesson/masterclass offerings)
- Group lessons and Masterclasses (see lesson/masterclass offerings)
- Readings (see lesson/masterclass offerings)
- Interdisciplinary Workshops with students, faculty, and staff (see workshop offerings)
- Interdisciplinary discussions and activities with students, faculty, and staff (see workshop offerings)
Artist Talk
- Group Session
- 60-90 minutes, depending on available time.
- In-person, virtual, and hybrid sessions are possible.
Each artist talk can be uniquely tailored to align with your community goals and interests. I’ve provided some examples of what I can discuss below:
Current Projects & Works
- Unpacking my writing practice, process and writing stages within specific projects
- Anatomy of a work - breaking down specific recent projects (Paracusia, The Memory of Water, gather, etc.) and sharing details within the music and collaborations.
- Working with and writing for electronics (live electronics, fixed media, field recordings) - discussion on techniques and strategies for approaching electroacoustic music-making for students of all levels, integrating fixed and live electronics into your works across multiple programs and mediums
- Custom instrument design and construction - discussion on experiences designing and building custom instruments and sound sculptures for use in my work during live performance, recording settings and in fixed electronic works.
- Navigating writing bumps and challenges when feeling stuck (including burnout, fatigue, writers block)
Collaboration
- Developing flexible processes as projects evolve
- Steps to build healthy, positive and fruitful collaborations
- Challenges and learning experiences I've encountered
- How to manage a close and long-distance collaborations
- Understanding rights and ownership in close creative partnerships
Business and Administrative Side of Composing
- Long-term Projects & Planning
- Creating a living timeline and cultivating patience
- Funding, grant-writing
- Commissions, contracts & negotiations
- Instigating and organizing outside projects
Artist Residency featuring Render Collaborative
Render Collaborative Residency | The Memory of Water
Over the past 5 years we have been developing our artistic collaboration, The Memory of Water (2018- present), a multi-installment project incorporating various instrumentation, live composition, improvisation, text and recitation, custom instrument design and fabrication, and fixed and live electronics techniques. This project has been an enriching, challenging, and artistically stimulating experience for us and we are excited to share this experience with you and your students. We wish to work with students and peers to discuss the nuances of our unique collaboration, breaking down barriers between composer and performer, and our perspectives into long-form projects and cross-disciplinary collaborations. We offer a unique perspective on how to use strings and electronics, answering questions about how to write for these mediums to merge together cohesively. Our hope is to start an open discussion, share, and mutually learn with you. As individuals we have extensive teaching experience and would like to offer our expertise to give [practical and hands on] workshops and masterclasses for both composers and performers on various topics.
Offerings
1. Concert featuring the existing volumes of The Memory of Water
- 60 – 120-minute performance (Volume I, Volume II or Volumes I and II)
- Lecture presentation: a short lecture about the project and a performance excerpt. Q and A to follow
- Open rehearsal leading up to concert for interested students.
2. 90-minute artist talk between Camila, Martine and Thea, discussing The Memory of Water project, demonstrating musical excerpts from the score and electronics, and offering a glimpse into the newest movement to be premiered in 2024, and open discussion Q&A. Possible topics:
The Memory of Water Project
- The progression of this project over the past 4 years and where we see it going in the future
- How this project changed us as artists and the personal and intrinsic value of this project
- The various stages, elements and process of creating each movement, and how we work together as collaborators to make our ideas reality
- Performance of the new movement in its current stage or excerpt of a previous movement
- Discussion and examples of how we integrate electronics as an equal character alongside acoustic instruments in the development of the music
Collaboration & Our Collaborative Process
- Our flexible process in developing each movement and how this process has evolved throughout the project
- Why our collaboration works well and the steps we take to ensure a healthy, positive, and fruitful collaboration
- Challenges and learning experiences we have encountered
- How to manage a close, long-distance collaboration when we have not been in the same state or countryfor most of the project
Long-term Projects & Planning:
- Factors to consider and how the nature of a long-term project influences what outcome of our work
- The impact of COVID-19 on our collaboration and pieces
- Creating a living timeline and patience involved funding
- Leaving space for malleability and flexibility and allowing the project to evolve as we do as artists and people
3.Masterclasses, workshops, and readings with composition, performance, and digital/electronic departments.
- Composition readings of miniatures featuring your students' works and collaborations with strings (composition, viola, cello) and/or other performance studios within your school.
- Composition masterclass of existing works for strings, including joint input from Camila, Thea, and Martine
- Composition masterclass with Camila
- Viola masterclass with Martine
- Cello masterclass with Thea
- Strings or chamber music masterclass (multiple studio options) with Thea and Martine
4. Lectures and Discussions
- Writing for electronics - lecture and discussion on techniques and strategies for approaching electroacoustic music-making for students of all levels, integrating fixed and live electronics into your works across multiple programs and mediums.
- Extended Techniques for Strings Workshop – lecture and discussion on extended technique notation, implementation, and practicalities for composers and performers, with a focus on collaborative music making. how to write for them, notate, how they work, limitations
- Wellness Workshops for Artists – to discuss and demonstrate mindful practices to cultivate and maintain a healthy artistic and work practice, can include gentle movement, breath-work, mindfulness. strategies on maintaining healthy perspective and processing stress and fatigue - open to all students, faculty and staff
- Running an Ensemble – the ins and outs of long terming planning, division of labor, grant-writing, etc.
5. Private Lessons with interested students in composition, performance and digital/electronic music studios
- Composition lessons with Camila
- Viola lessons with Martine
- Cello lessons with Thea
- Chamber music coaching’s with Thea or Martine
Meristem Artists
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What is Meristem Artists?
Meristem Artists is a community, founded by Camila Agosto in 2020, working to support artists of marginalized genders, including women, trans individuals, femme-identifying, and nonbinary folks. Together we create a welcoming, supportive, and trustworthy atmosphere in which to connect, learn, share, and work. Through our retreat and community events we engage in open discussions, artist talks, yoga and meditation classes, and activities that energize the mind, body and soul. These holistic activities give us the opportunity to discover what speaks to us in life.
Meristem has provided a beautiful support system for me and an inspiring place for introspection. I am grateful for the ways in which we can exchange ideas with one another, including thoughts and feelings around our own wellbeing, our creative aspirations and our personal growth. Embracing self care within this community is so freeing. Meristem has illuminated ways for me to discover my creative flow-state and self-motivation.
— Raquel Acevedo Klein, Conductor, Vocalist, Visual Artist
Our Ethos
We are each committed to maintaining this community space from the perspective of a mutual-aid mindset in which each member of the community is actively engaged and participating in its growth and development. There is not one person who is valued over another, nor one person who is the "leader" and the others the "followers". As one of our core members has said in the past, this is "a space that doesn't force us to lose energy working against societal presets or power dynamics. It is a haven for artists of marginalized genders to share values, intimate expression, and facets of their being as humans and artists without fear of judgement or exploitation." This is a non-commercial space in which we are not boxed into societal norms or constructs, identity labels, or other things that we have to deal with on a daily basis. This is a space where you have value just for being present, for who you are, and not what you do. It is a space where each member is allowed to define themselves or choose to live without definitions, not for the sake of any "brand" but for the sake of just being who you truly are. Most importantly, this is a voluntary space in which each member chooses to be present, engaged and honor our pledge in how we choose to use this space and how we agree to treat ourselves and each other.
At this time, Meristem Artists is in a season of rest and currently focusing on nourishing our current garden and creating regenerative and restorative spaces through conversations, collaborations and other community activities.
The artist retreat was a wonderful way to meet new artists and friends who inspired me with their spirit and ideas on meditation, their art/work, their approaches to life, and more. I always looked forward to the deeper discussions as well as the times we could all just gather together online and play a board game. I look forward to any future iterations of the retreat and the potential for some really important communal support and work that can happen!
—Audrey Chen, Cellist
Past Retreat Offerings:
The Meristem Artist Retreat is a virtual space for artists of marginalized genders including women, trans individuals, femme-identifying, and nonbinary folks, to gather and collectively grow. This retreat is unique because it allows artists to participate flexibly and from home, it focuses on developing wellness practices in conjunction with creative practices, and it encourages solo work and mutual support in the same virtual space. Our mission is to instill artists with experiences and practices that promote wellness within their artistic lives by offering classes, activities, and discussions centered around wellbeing. We aim to counteract the trope that artists need to suffer to create great art, instead facilitating each artist's process of discovering what they can do when they feel wholly balanced, nourished, rested, and healthful. We offer a variety of sessions to cultivate positive community building and personal exploration as artists develop healthy mindsets and habits to integrate within their creative practices.
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- Group Yoga and Meditation Classes
- Taking Yoga off the Mat, Community Discussions
- Group Coaching Sessions
- Connected Working Sessions: virtual collaborative and co-working spaces
- Tea Times, Artist Shares & Studio Classes
It was a pleasure to be part of the Meristem Artist Retreat. Participants were offered to provide input and shape the weekly plan together. It was especially helpful to be part of this community during isolation caused by the pandemic. My favorite activities were yoga sessions, which I had practiced before but never had such an attentive teacher as Camila, who not only engaged with us in matters of body but also spiritual health and mindfulness. My overall experience was that of meeting new people, finding common interests and learning new things, while surrounded by a friendly and safe environment.
—Nina Fukuoka, Composer
Mindful Materials
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I am working on compiling a collection of materials from my experiences leading the Meristem Artist Retreat and other wellness sessions at Columbia University and during the Ensemble Evolution summer music program. These materials will be gathered in a shared library of sorts, free for all to access and use.
More to come soon!
