From Musician to Arts Entrepreneur

Since MA Arts Management student Toks Dada first arrived as a student in the strings department at RWCMD five years ago, he has gone from undergraduate to postgraduate, musician to arts entrepreneur.

Today, he is very much a part of the College, based in an office space where he is developing his new music company Sinfonia Newydd, running the College’s REPCo (Repertory by Entrepreneurial Performers Company) project, which encourages student entrepreneurship, plus studying part-time for an MA in Arts Management (Toks was one of the first recipients of the Prince of Wales Scholarships).

“When I started at RWCMD as an undergrad in September 2009, I had my entire career mapped out,” explains Toks. “I knew I wanted to graduate and play in an orchestra. But my experiences at the College have made me realise that my career lies in a different area of the music industry.”

Toks’ journey to arts entrepreneur began when he set up Sinfonia Newydd in his first year, bringing instrumentalists and composers from the College together to produce a series of student-led performance events, from music/art collaborations to contemporary jazz/classical fusion.

A year later, REPCo – the College’s student-led enterprise initiative – was born. Toks was one of the original board members of REPCo, distributing money and offering advice for a range of student-led projects, from opera companies to orchestral societies.

Fast forward a few years and an entire week each term is dedicated to REPCo, where students get time out from their usual rehearsal and study schedules to experiment with their own projects.

And since 2013, other Arts Management students are also getting to develop their skills through REPCo. “Their internal placement – which is part of the course – is working on a REPCo project, getting a real mix of experience. My collegues are working on management, artistic direction, producing, marketing and outreach.”

“For me, with my various projects and the MA course, everything’s linking in quite nicely. There’s always something that I’m already doing that I can use for my assignments, and I’m also getting advice from the lecturers that I can actually apply to a live project.”

RWCMD is leading the way in educating its students about the importance of creative entrepreneurship. I myself am living proof of this.”