The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
6 — Wednesday, March 10, 2021
When asked about the future of
the newly-formed Michigan Music
Business Club, Business junior
Jonathan Hayman, co-founder
and president of the club, did not
shy from divulging all that the club
has accomplished in its two years
of existence.
“This semester, we will have
had (executives from) Amazon
Music and Spotify, two of the
most popular digital streaming
platforms, speak for our club on
behalf of the school,” Hayman
said. “There’s not been any club in
school history that has had that.
There’s not been any club in school
history that has had the president
of the largest festival company
(Gary Gersh) in the world speak
(on their behalf).”
Combining the passion of a
music fan with the unrelenting
drive of a Ross major, the MMBC
is here to dominate. From the
Ross School of Business to the
School of Art & Design to LSA,
the membership pool is filled with
music industry hopefuls, united in
their drive to break into the music
scene, as talent managers, artists,
marketing
executives,
concert
planners — you name it.
Thanks to the diverse crew
of members (carefully curated
by Hayman and Business junior
Cassie Alexe, fellow co-founder),
the
MMBC
has
a
massive
network that has allowed them
to plan events with some of the
most powerful executives in the
industry.
Hayman
and
Alexe
began developing the group in the
summer of 2019, when the two
were both just rising sophomores
at the University. At that point,
Hayman had already gathered a
remarkably
impressive
resume
in
the
music
industry
with
experience planning concerts and
marketing music for some of the
hottest acts in hip hop.
The idea for MMBC came
to Hayman after the success of
rapper Safari’s “Late Night Lover,”
a song he had helped advertise.
He realized he had nobody on
campus to share this moment of
accomplishment with. Hearing
that Alexe had also been looking to
enter the music industry, the two
built an organization that seeks
to make up for the lack of a music
business major on campus.
“We just want to excite people
and make them want to come to
our events,” Alexe explained. “We
think the best way to do that is to
have these exciting people with
super cool experiences come in
and tell us what it was like working
with Kanye. Tell us what it was
like driving to Colorado to sit at a
Nirvana concert and listen to them
for the first time before signing
them. These are such cool stories
and it’s so intimate that everyone
gets a lot out of it.”
Indeed, it’s hard not to be
impressed by the list of people
the club has managed to secure:
the former marketing director
of Kanye West’s Yeezy apparel,
a head executive from Coachella
Music
and
Arts
Festival,
managers of artists like Nirvana,
Soundgarden, Foo Fighters and
The Chainsmokers. And these are
just to name a few.
With the availability of Zoom
and the increased normalcy of
over-the-computer meetings, the
pandemic has only made it easier
for the MMBC to bring in notable
speakers — though, they explain,
they had been hosting some
meetings over FaceTime even
before COVID-19 had reached
campus. This, along with an
impressive social media rollout,
has allowed the infant group to
continue expanding even in the
midst of a global crisis.
“We expect to have even greater
turnouts for our future events
once things are back in person,”
Hayman said. “The club is just
exponentially growing and we
expect MMBC to grow into the
biggest club that Michigan has
ever seen.” If that sounds like a
bold proclamation, that’s because
it is.
If asked why they built the
club, Hayman and Alexe will
tell you how important it is to
have a passion for music and to
build a community for those with
like-minded goals. While this
is undoubtedly true, make no
mistake — the MMBC is a well-
oiled machine and their ambitions
are trekking toward something
bigger than a passion project. Few
things are out of reach for these
aspiring professionals, and if you
are looking to one day score a job in
the music industry, the Michigan
Music Business Club is the place
to be.
Traveling and living out of a
converted Sprinter van last August,
Art & Design senior Grace Coudal
discovered the beauty and vastness
of the American Southwest. With her
friend and Art & Design class of 2020
graduate Dante Tsuzuki, Coudal drove
through
Colorado,
Utah,
Arizona
and New Mexico to photograph the
sweeping landscape.
Thousands of miles away from
Coudal’s native Chicago, this coveted
region of American terrain inspired
Coudal’s
debut
photography
book
Intimately South, Intimately West,
which
was
ethically
printed
in
Minneapolis and released Feb. 11.
Coudal believes that embracing a
nomadic lifestyle during the pandemic
led her toward a deeper intimacy with
the landscape where she traveled
and the people she met. In a virtual
interview with The Daily, Coudal she
described a particular night at a Utah
campsite.
“The whole sky was black except
for this sunset that was happening
all across this mountainscape. I’ve
literally never seen colors like that
in my life,” she said. “When I started
crying, I didn’t know why. It was like I
was seeing heaven.”
Funded by the Kelly McKinnell
Memorial
Scholarship
grant
from
the School of Art & Design, Coudal
launched her vision of a travel photo
project into action. The dynamics
of intimacy have always enamored
Coudal.
“Intimacy is just being blown away,
and entranced by land that I have
never seen. Feelings that have emerged
that I couldn’t really even anticipate,”
she said.
Coudal only brought 10 rolls of 35
mm film for the month-long trip.
“It was a very active choice to do film
photography. I did not want to at all do
digital. I did not want to be able to see
the photos that I was taking. I wanted
there to be an element of surprise,”
Coudal said.
Only after returning from her trip
and scanning the film did she see the
photos she took.
“Photos serve as artifacts. With a
digital photo, you can take as many
photos as you want just to get your
‘perfect’ shot,” Coudal said. “And
I kind of liked that that was not an
option.”
Through the spontaneity granted
through film photography and journal
entries, her book revels in the joy of
the unknown and unplanned, all while
capturing an otherworldly landscape.
Photos featuring nudity in nature,
like people bathing in a creek, are
included in her book as well —
physical intimacy is a common thread
throughout her other photography,
as seen through Coudal’s personal
projects like “Lusting Longer.”
Coudal speaks on the self-portrait
series as growing out of a transformative
time in her life when she was navigating
her own identity as a queer femme.
“Lusting Longer” subverts the common
fairytale trope of a girl venturing into the
woods; Coudal re-imagines the tale by
reclaiming her identity through fashion
and photography. Hauling photography
equipment and various outfits to Nichols
Arboretum in the early morning, Coudal
photographed herself.
“I was trying to reclaim myself,
sensuality, desires and lust that I’ve
been feeling toward people,” Coudal
said. “It was a really meaningful project
at that time, and I was happy with how
it turned out.”
Though
she
has
been
creating
and selling zines — self-published
work curated by images and text —
since childhood, Coudal gravitated
toward photography as a medium.
The vulnerability one could capture
through a lens enamored her.
“You could display, entice people and
provoke people very quickly, which I
really liked … Trying to progress the
world into the way that we (Coudal and
her friends) wanted it. We wanted it to
move it. Photography was an accessible
way to do that,” she said.
The
pairing
of
intimacy
and
photography
stems
from
Coudal’s
interest in how her sexuality intersects
with the art she creates. Informed by
her minor in LGBTQ and Sexuality
Studies, her senior thesis project is on
the future of queer femme intimacy.
Coudal said that if she wasn’t a
photographer, she’d be a sexologist.
The intersection of these interests led
her to conceptualize and launch her
startup STAA, a brand focused on sex
education and empowerment.
Growing up as a queer teen, Coudal
didn’t see her sexuality reflected in sex
education class. So, STAA was born.
“I wanted to make a company that
was unapologetic about talking about
sexuality, sex, intimacy and identities,”
she said.
Coudal found that much of LGBTQ+
and studies on sexuality can be dense
and academically challenging to read.
In an effort to promote more accessible
content, Coudal hopes to inform other
young people about sex through art,
particularly her photography.
“It makes life confusing when you
aren’t taught those things, or you just
don’t feel validated or seen if you are
like a part of those communities. … And
so I’m trying to translate that into a
universal language of art,” she said.
Coudal contextualized her mission:
“Literally less than seven percent of
LGBTQ+ individuals were ever taught
an inclusive sexual education in the
United States, which is awful,” she
said. “The brand is basically just trying
to open these conversations, empower
people about their own desires and their
own intimacy.”
Coudal also hopes to add a podcast to
STAA where she can interview guests
about sex, desire and LGBTQ+ topics.
By broaching especially sensitive topics
that can be really difficult and sensitive,
such as sexual and gender identity and
sexual intimacy, Coudal finds that
having her photography online helps
others feel validated and seen.
“There are so many things that are
perfectly normal and amazing that
people need to feel validated about and
need to feel empowered about,” Coudal
said. “They shouldn’t just feel validated
— they should be celebrated for being
themselves.”
Artist Profile: Grace Coudal captures intimacy through a camera lens
The Michigan Music Business
Club is here to dominate
NINA MOLINA
Daily Arts Writer
BEN SERVETAH
Daily Arts Writer
All photos courtesy of Grace Coudal
puzzle by sudokusnydictation.com
By Roland Huget
©2021 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
03/10/21
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
03/10/21
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
Release Date: Wednesday, March 10, 2021
ACROSS
1 Is sporting
6 Bobby who lost to
Billie Jean King in
tennis’ “Battle of
the Sexes”
11 Place to unwind
14 Grenoble’s river
15 Sign up, in
Sussex
16 Reliever’s asset
17 “ABC” group, with
“The”
19 USN clerk
20 Hot state
21 Heat unit
22 Ruhr Valley city
24 Art class subject
26 Part-plant
DC Comics
superhero
28 Compulsive thief,
for short
30 Thoughts spoken
onstage
31 Prefix with
comic
32 “Not for me”
35 Left on a liner
36 Pioneer’s wagon
with an upward-
curved floor
39 Popular side
42 Sore
43 Makeshift knives
47 More minute
49 Without a musical
key
50 Weight loss
guru
54 New Haven Ivy
55 Stream of insults,
say
56 “It’s __ to you”
58 Given a meal
59 Printemps
month
60 Skirt, as an
issue ... or a hint
to the puzzle’s
circles
63 Outer: Prefix
64 Slices in a pie,
often
65 Gold unit
66 Blue shade
67 Designer
fragrance
68 Prepared for a
TV interview
DOWN
1 Mischief
2 Ordinarily
3 Any of 11 1860s
states
4 Sitcom planet
5 Outdoor home
6 Agree to more
issues
7 Start to structure
8 Big name in fairy
tales
9 Federal URL
ending
10 Makes things
slippery, in a way
11 Closes the
marital deal
12 Peacock, e.g.
13 Surrounded by
18 Extremely
23 Shout from the
main mast
25 Momentous
victories
27 Part of UTEP
29 Excessively
32 Bench press
target, for short
33 Bat wood
34 Metaphor for a
mess
37 “Breaking Bad”
agent
38 Prime meridian
std.
39 Place near the
Pennsylvania
Railroad
40 Relax
41 Retirement
income source
44 Down
45 Chemical
bonding number
46 Tobogganed
48 Ophthalmologist,
for short
49 Lago filler
51 Wound up
costing
52 Highway through
Whitehorse
53 __-France
57 Senior’s
highlight
61 Comic strip cry
62 Non opposite
SUDOKU
“Is Saint Patricks
day the best
holiday of the
year?”
“Is that even a
question?”
03/03/21
WHISPER