Bringing Classical Music into the Modern World
Bridge for Billions is the online incubator for early-stage entrepreneurs to structure, develop, and refine their business with a mentor that guides them step-by-step. Meet one of our entrepreneurs Sara Illana, who founded Romandela.
Sara Illana has been involved with music since her youth. Proficient in both the flute and the piano, Sara has a passion for music especially of the Baroque era, and it was from this passion that Sara created Illana Cultural Management where she spent 8 years producing classical and traditional concerts. Sara soon realized a hole left in the classical music market. There was a lack of young managers and an overwhelming number of classically trained students coming out of the specialized music schools. When she realized this, Sara decided to apply her passion for music to filling this gap faced in the classical music community.
This was when Romandela was born. Sara represents four classical groups spanning the Renaissance, Baroque and new Romanticism periods. The management agency focuses on all aspects of classical music from the recovery and recording of Spanish classical music as well as the staging of concerts to help disseminate this music. Sara has dedicated herself to modernizing the way in which classical music is disseminated. In a niche where innovation is frowned upon, Sara is exploring the ways in which to meld the traditionalism of classical music with the innovation of technology needed to promote a musical group. Sara’s goal is to take care of the large part of the social media and concert planning portion of the equation so that the musicians who contract her can focus on the music.
However, Sara faced the problem that she didn’t see her agency as a business. For her this was a passion that she could pursue and for which she could be paid. She herself admits that her biggest struggle was that she didn’t have a business plan and hadn’t thought of subject such as customer segments or strategic partners. Bridge for Billions came at the perfect time for Sara to begin to structure Romandela in a business savvy manner. She is at the beginning of her time with Bridge, but she has already noticed great improvements provided by Bridge. “I was able to define what my product was; whether we were selling the representational services or the setting up of concerts.”
She has been paired up with Montserrat Fernandez Blanco, one of our volunteer mentors, with a PhD in cultural innovation and she also has a common nexus with Sara. Montserrat works with museum culture and the musical culture of Italy, so while their specialization isn’t exactly the same Sara and Montserrat have common backgrounds. Sara enjoys this similarity and difference because “she asks questions that we didn’t see because we’re so involved in the classical music world.”
Want to develop your business like Sara with the help of a mentor? Learn more about Bridge For Billions on bridgeforbillions.org, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
