Catherine Starek has a bachelor's degree in music education from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, with an emphasis on instrumental music and flute performance. She was a flutist for the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra for five years and taught music privately. Following an internship with the North Carolina Symphony in artistic operations, she was inspired to pursue orchestra management and later selected to participate in the League of American Orchestras' Essentials of Orchestra Management Seminar in NYC. Discovering a new passion and new way of contributing to the performing arts, she moved to Washington, D.C. to begin the master's program in arts management at American University.
Catherine has had several internships since she started AU's arts management program in 2011. She currently works as the graduate assistant in publicity and marketing for AU's College of Arts and Sciences, and as a DC fellow in Art Cart: Saving the Legacy -- a groundbreaking intergenerational and interdisciplinary arts legacy project.
Catherine is completing her graduate research on the Millennial generation and effective strategies for engaging younger audiences and donors in the U.S. symphony orchestra experience. She looks forward to graduating in May, and applying her passion, knowledge, and experiences to the evolving field of nonprofit arts management.