Mike Leckrone and Joe Koss - COPA Madison

Art in Life Secrets: "Kids who participate in music, whether they continue it on at a great level or not, become the strong students of that area, that society."

Former UW Band Director Mike Leckrone and former Culver's CEO Joe Koss have joined forces to bring art to everyone, starting in Madison, Wisconsin with COPA, Community Organizations Promoting the Arts.

Listen as Joe and Mike detail their plans to bring art of all kinds to as many people as possible, as well as giving people the space to create their art.  Art is often an overlooked skill and the value of creativity can not be denied.  The world is simply a better place with creative minds open to actually create.

Mike and Joe are working with many talented and connected people on the board of COPA Madison to make this a reality and their plans are admirable and exciting.

Enjoy!

Visit Joe and Mike at: COPAmadison.org

Podcast Overview:

[00:01:00] Retired band director helps organize music programs.

[00:08:21] Nonprofit providing diverse music services, collaboration encouraged.

[00:12:24] Arts program brings smiles and educational impact.

[00:13:29] Participation in music leads to strong students.

[00:22:26] Supporting music for underserved youth, scholarships provided.

[00:24:44] Start-up nonprofit story telling, donor outreach, PR.

[00:32:04] Recruiting board members with diverse backgrounds.

[00:34:07] Strengthened partnership, supportive, successful fundraising workshop.

[00:36:55] Accessible building, grassroots movement, growing programs, worthwhile goal.

[00:40:22] Successful concerts featuring diverse performers before COVID.

[00:44:38] "Get right pieces, tap passion, achieve success."

[00:48:57] Intense focus on art; website for more information.

Podcast Transcription:

James [00:00:02]:

You have found authentic business adventures business program that brings you the struggle, stories and triumphs and successes of business owners across the land. Downloadable audio episodes can be found in the podcast link [email protected]. We're locally underwritten by the bank of Sun Prairie and today we're welcoming slash preparing to learn from Joe Cost, the former CEO of the growing Culver's franchise, which you've probably heard of eaten There enjoyed, as well as Mike Leckrone, the former UW band director, which you've probably seen perform. But today we're talking about the new nonprofit they are part of, which is Copa. So, Joe and Mike, how are you doing today?

Mike Leckrone [00:00:39]:

Doing well, doing well.

Joe Koss [00:00:40]:

Thanks for having us.

James [00:00:41]:

Thanks for being on the show. You guys are powerhouses here. So I'm excited to have you guys. And you're part of this nonprofit which is, I guess in the end just giving back to the community, which is great to hear. So Mike, let's just start with you, former UW Band director. How did you get into this Copa thing?

Mike Leckrone [00:01:00]:

Well, I fell into it when I retired from being the band director. A lot of people say, oh, he's got a lot of time on his hands, let's see if he can help us with this. And I got an inordinate amount of calls from people who wanted to know if I could help them with personnel. They say we've got music groups that want to play, but there's no organization, there's no place for them to play, there's no place for them to do their thing musically. And I looked into it a little further and I discovered that was right because high schools were filling up their programs and they did wan...