Today we’d like to introduce you to Spencer Foster
Hi Spencer, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I can’t remember a time when I didn’t define myself as a musician; my earliest memories as a child are of playing piano. But once I got to college, I wasn’t certain of the path in life that I wanted to take. I liked my music classes, but I loved the liberal arts courses I signed up for. In my Spanish and Portuguese classes we didn’t just talk about grammar; we talked about philosophy, politics, history, literature, music, film studies, linguistics, and so much more. Maybe it was just because it was college where everything is new and the professors are top-notch, but those courses excited me about academics in a way that I had never felt before. Eventually, I declared Spanish/Portuguese as my major and during my last semester I started volunteering at an organization serving asylum seekers from Africa and South America to put those language skills to good use. I’m so grateful for all those seemingly random decisions I’ve taken over the past few years for leading me down a unique career path and allowing me the freedom to create the lifestyle that I want for myself.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
During college, I started to have severe health issues that left me hospitalized for a weeks at a time. Now, I feel grateful for each day that get to be alive, to do work that I love, and to make art that brings me and others joy. This perspective has led me to seek out thrilling experiences, and it has pushed me to give back to society both through working in community service and through my art.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I struggle to talk about my work because it often feels like people will focus their attention during the conversation entirely on either my music career or my social service career without seeing those halves of my life as two equal parts that I feel equally passionate about. Most days, I go to work at Casa Marianella which is a small grassroots non-profit that supports recently arrived asylum seekers in Austin where I’ve been working for 3 years. On the days I’m not at Casa, I’m playing gigs, practicing, or teaching music. Fulfillment for me comes from doing both together.
The days at Casa Marianella are extremely emotionally challenging. The families we work with are all incredibly kind and hardworking, but have found themselves in very unfortunate situations. They’ve been forced to leave their home countries due to sometimes unimaginable traumas, and when they arrive to the United States they are faced with a culture that treats them as invaders and a government that makes it almost impossible for them to even work to provide for themselves (statutory restrictions on work permit applications mean that many immigrants are legally unable to obtain jobs that would allow them to afford food for themselves or their children, not to mention a decent apartment). Many of our clients, despite being perfectly able-bodied and eager to work, are forced to live in horrifyingly subpar housing conditions because of the insurmountable logistical difficulties of surviving as a recently arrived asylum seeker in America. I feel grateful for the great life I get to live, but it is frustrating to see how the people coming through our organization suffer for reasons completely outside of their control and to know that my capacity to help is limited.
Often after work, I leave directly to go play a music gig later in the evening. Days like those will often involve packing fancy clothes, changing in the car, and trying to fit in a short meditation session before entering the venue. That short break is necessary to be able to emotionally handle the massive juxtaposition between the overcrowded, cockroach-infested, sparsely furnished apartments where I visit with our clients and the luxurious restaurants or private mansions where I might be hired to play background music. It’s only possible to work a certain number of days like that per month before I begin to feel overwhelmed by the radical inequality in this city and start to feel burned out.
While I do play a lot of “background music” or cover gigs like the ones I just mentioned, my real passion is creating music of my own. I recently released my first album and was inspired by those challenging days of cultural whiplash to donate all the revenue back to charities working in the fields of immigration and homelessness. It’s a small gesture (and mostly symbolic considering the low profit margins of instrumental music in the current streaming era), but my goal is to bring attention to the problem of economic injustice and to do my part to break down the barriers between two classes of people that live within a few miles of each other but rarely interact: a group that has more money than they know what to do with, and a group that struggles to afford even their most basic needs no matter how hard they’re willing to work.
Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
I’m grateful to have always had a piano to play on while growing up. I played whenever I wanted – and I was sassy about it! Whenever I got upset with my older siblings, I used the piano as my weapon and would start playing while they were watching TV. Sometimes it turned into a volume war between us, but they eventually just started using subtitles.
I also marked all sorts of emotional moments with music which still stand out to me. I remember crying while playing a beautiful ballad when our family dog died. Another time our whole family broke down laughing when I played a super overdramatic version of Happy Birthday (think cinematic like the “Star Wars” opening theme) when I wasn’t getting enough attention on my big day!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.casamarianella.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spencerfoster_/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zv_ZD71G9X4
- Other: shfoster100@gmail.com
