Artist Initiative

Loretta developed her songwriting skills in story-songs by interviewing extraordinary people she didn’t know, crafting their stories into song, and taking songwriting lessons at MacPhail. Loretta Simonet collected audience multiple choice answers and comments on written surveys at her concerts. She taped a discussion at the end of each concert, though this was not as successful (people preferred to write, rather than speak, their comments.) She also received comments about the songs on her online blog, Facebook, and emails. She received oral feedback and a written evaluation from her teacher at MacPhail. Other methods which grew out of the project were feedback from the song subjects about whom she wrote, from presenters at the venues, and in reviews from the media. 2: Even more Minnesotans than Loretta Simonet expected shared in her original music, at concerts in the inner-city, outstate, broadcast audience, and at a retirement home. The presenter of each concert did a headcount and gave it to Loretta Simonet. She visually noted the degree of engagement of the audience members. Audience feedback was collected via a written survey, comments on blog posts on her website, Facebook and email comments, and a taped discussion after each concert. The most successful methods (i.e. most participation) were the written survey, and Facebook and email comments.