Today we’d like to introduce you to Mark Turk
Hi Mark, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I was born and raised in Alice, TX, a small town in south Texas. Like a lot of small towns, there wasn’t much to do, so staying out of trouble becomes a life skill. Music was my savior. I spent many years studying and performing music in school band and garage bands with friends.
I left Alice in 1995 to attend Texas State University in San Marcos TX. I studied business at the University, but could not escape the allure of music. San Marcos had a great music scene, and I formed bands with like minded musicians. Upon graduating, I moved to Austin Texas to be in the middle of the live music capital of the world.
For the next 10 years, I performed, recorded, and toured with local musicians. In 2007 I enrolled into a recording program at the great Arlen Studios in Austin, where I was certified in audio engineering and began producing music. At the same time, I had been teaching music classes at private schools, as well as private music lessons on bass, guitar, piano, and voice. At that point in my career, I was a full time local gigging musician. This is a tough life, because you are always looking for small gigs to put together enough income to survive.
In 2012, I heard that there was a school looking for an afterschool rock band coach at a local high school, and found my way into that position. After one semester, I saw that it wasn’t only my music knowledge that the kids wanted, but my life experience from my past had also drawn them to me. At that point, I realized musicians with my experience could bring a lot of value to these kids. I also saw that there was so much more in terms of enhancing the quality of the classroom experience that could be done. So I followed my gut instinct that told me this is what I should be doing with my career at this moment.
In 2014, Beat 4 Beat was born.
As the organization grew, I hired my musician friends, giving them supplemental income while chasing their musical aspirations. In 2019, I attended Austin Community College’s Nonprofit Studies program to sharpen my business skills. Beat 4 Beat is now in its 10th year, we’ve employed over 100 musicians and well over 10,000 kids have come through the program.
Today, I am looking at new ways to reach aspiring students and expand music into the Austin community by building new partnerships. I’m also lending my leadership and organizational skills to a long standing Austin nonprofit; Ambassadors for Community Health, which has supported the St. David’s Medical Center since 1955.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I’m not sure if there’s a smooth road in the nonprofit world. It goes without saying to anyone that is in the nonprofit field, that funding is always the top issue. Besides funding, our day to day challenge is delivering high quality programs to a vulnerable community.
What Beat 4 Beat has done to meet the needs of children is to go to the schools in the afterschool hours. However, public funding for organizations like ours, afterschool and art programs, has continue to dwindle over the years. More recently, funding for public schools is diminishing. What people probably don’t realize is how this effects organizations. Experienced professionals in this field have been forced to leave, and positions have been cut. What’s left is fewer and less experienced people to pick up the pieces. This really makes the delivery of high quality programs challenging every year.
I’m thrilled that we are able to continue our mission despite these obstacles. The Austin community is still supporting us, which is amazing. We are currently exploring partnerships and other business ventures to keep the music alive in schools!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Beat 4 Beat’s mission is to develop confidence and community for underserved youth in Central Texas through after-school music education.
We give local musicians paid gigs to teach underserve students. The curriculum is built around the music interests and experience of the instructors and students to create holistic learning environment.
I think this sets us apart, no two classroom experiences will ever be the same, and we let the participant’s talents and experiences guide the journey.
I’m very proud of the Beat 4 Beat brand, every aspect of our brand came from community input. We surveyed our stakeholders; students, parents, schools, teachers and donors to get their opinion about what makes our organization unique. We took that info and collaborated with marketing and nonprofit experts to come up the name, logo, tone and color scheme.
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
The post-pandemic efforts have been challenging for most. We were establishing our funding sources right as the pandemic hit, which was a mix of grants, small donors, and fees paid by the schools. Most donors had to pull out because of their own financial crisis, public schools have pulled their purse strings tight just to cover their basic needs, and many granters changed their focus of who and how they provide support. Since then we’ve had to re-strategize our entire approach.
The biggest lesson learned is that there’s no certainty in the world. I’ve found the best approach is to have a growth mindset. To strive to be a life long learner, always look to improve and keep an open mind to different possibilities, even if that means stopping a program that maybe a really good idea, but isn’t working in the moment. This approach has opened doors for me that I didn’t even know where available.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://beat4beat.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beat4beatatx/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beat4beatatx
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF2jnkhP2hA8qZrVh4cXLCg
Image Credits
B/W gig photos – Stevie – https://www.instagram.com/theshadowslight/
Beat 4 Beat event photos – Georges Schemagin – https://www.instagram.com/georgespictures/
