Oxford today

BERENIKA SCHMITZ
22 Oxonian&News
Oxonians at large
What Oxonians are doing in the world. Words by Lindsey Harrad
Musical youth
Working to bring music to a new generation
Berenika Schmitz
Christ Church 2007
In a unique position as both artistic and
executive director of her own orchestra
(the Dana Point Symphony, California)
Berenika Schmitz has the rare
combination of leadership skills and
creative talent. An innovative curator of
the orchestra’s programming, she’s also
an accomplished concert pianist. During
her time at Oxford reading for an MPhil
in EU cultural policy, she knew she
wanted to do more to foster a love of
the arts in others. “The highlight of my
time at the University was a performance
I gave with the Oxford Philomusica at
the Sheldonian,” she says. “But even then
influential people around me felt that
I was capable of taking a leadership role.”
Currently Berenika holds one of ten
coveted nine-month paid fellowships at
the DeVos Institute of Arts Management
at the Kennedy Center in Washington.
“The sheer magnitude of the
programming here makes this one of
the most prestigious opportunities in the
arts in the country,” says Berenika. “I’m
based in the marketing department at
the moment. We’re working on making
our programming more accessible to the
18-30 age group, which is a particular
passion of mine. Young people have a lot
to say and we need to create exciting
events that will speak to them.”
www.danapointsymphony.com
Fashion
Station
Amy
Anderson
University 1999
After graduating in Fine Art, Amy
Anderson went on to build a hugely
successful jewellery and accessories
business called Comfort Station,
which shows at Paris Fashion Week
and is stocked in shops including
Selfridges in London. Anderson
designs it all and everything is made
in a studio below her shop in
Shoreditch, East London, by her and
a team of three others.
But is what she sells art? “That’s
a loaded question,” she laughs.
“I wouldn’t say it’s art. But it’s certainly
conceptual. The thoughts and ideas
behind it are important to me. All the
jewellery is concept-based as opposed
to being pretty.”
www.comfortstation.co.uk
Talking
points
Emily Kasriel
Jesus 1985
While researching her geography
dissertation, Emily Kasriel lived in
a remote Israeli Druze village to explore
the tensions within the community.
After graduating, she took up a Rotary
Fellowship studying International
Relations in the USA before returning
to work with the BBC World Service.
In 2008, Emily launched The Forum
programme. The show brings together
commentators from different
disciplines and cultures, combining
a Nobel Prize-winning scientist with
a poet and a historian, for example.
“I believe there is far too much thinking
in silos, and I get moved when there
is a genuine exchange of ideas,”
Emily says.
www.bbcworldservice.com
TIM BISHOP