Brio Pop Society unites musicians

Bloomington has one of the best  contemporary music scenes in the Midwest and one of the best music schools in the world. IU graduate Loren Gurman decided to join the two in a creative experiment.

The project, titled The Brio Pop Society, started as a collaborative process bringing together songwriters to work on a themed album to celebrate Live From Bloomington’s 25th Anniversary. The Brio Pop Society has since become its own entity under Gurman’s direction.

A callout meeting will  be Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Indiana Memorial Union Starbucks for all interested.

“It was amazing to see that many wonderful people come together through a creative process especially at a single event,” Gurman said. “But I really think The Brio Pop Society could expand to become something even more.”

The Brio Pop Society has been the brain child of Gurman since last fall when he had the idea to create a concept album by combining creative forces of contemporary songwriters and classically trained musicians. Songwriter and junior Nick Huster said he believes Gurman’s vision could become a reality with the right help.

“I think it needs visionaries, creative people,” Huster said. “Someone who has the desire to invest in the idea and help people could really make this thing bigger
and better.”

Sophomore Coleman Lowndes said he is excited to get involved with other sides of the project after performing at the LFB show in February, and he encourages others to get involved.

“There are many levels of involvement,” Lowndes said. “There’s the classic artists, the writers, the arrangers and the administrative side.”

Gurman said he hopes to see people also interested in marketing, publicity and arts administration come to the callout meeting.

“It’s a process that involves as many people as possible,” Gurman said. “I really want to hash out objectives and approach this with an open mind to make it something that touches as many people’s lives as possible.”

Gurman said he hopes the project will approach creativity as something you do with belief in its potential to enrich lives.

“It’s already shown successful this past February,” Lowndes said. “The writing circles Gurman brought together really just gave you that mentality to write well, and the song I recorded was one of the better ones I have ever done.”

Huster said he would like to see more collaboration with professional musicians and people who create music as a living.

The Brio Pop Society also wants to be charitable.

“Sometimes I think big events could give more if they skip the major presentations and just donated all of the money directly to charity,” Lowndes said. “So, I’d like to see things on more of a small community side where we tell people to simply bring cans to one of our shows.”

Gurman said he wants to maintain philanthropic and individualize the cause for each community.

“Hunger awareness is a huge issue in Bloomington,” Gurman said. “But as we expand, I want to consider the needs of other communities.”

Lowndes said he would be okay with keeping the project local but he cannot wait to see what the future holds.

“I think people should get involved now because it’s a brilliant project,” Huster said. “It’s a big vision that has been successful here and has the potential to be successful on a larger scale.”

Gurman said he is considering Portland, Ore., as a future home of the society but looks forward to getting started in Bloomington.

“I want to work to expand nationally, and I look forward to working with people who have the same creative vision,” Gurman said. “But no matter where it goes, it started here.”