Kalein - A World Class Artist Training and Development Center Near Nashville, Tennessee

Kalein Business Overview

I. Kalein General Description

Mission Statement: Kalein exists to provide a place to encourage and equip gifted artists of all genres (i.e. songwriting, screen writing, sculpting, fashion design, culinary arts, painting, writing, cinematography, communication, comedy, etc.) and leaders to discover, develop and discipline their dreams.

Goals and Objectives: An esthetically pleasing and solitary refuge where respected and recognized master teachers provide personal training, encouragement and mentoring to small groups of leaders and artists.

Kalein’s business philosophy is to Influence Influencers.

Kalein will be marketed to universities, churches, denominations, organizations, seminaries and circles of influence through conferences such as cre:ate, Youth Specialties, Willow Creek, Saddleback and Northpoint Conferences.

The entertainment and church culture is experiencing a time of radical discontinuity and therefore demands new models of personal management, training, thinking and mentoring.

A key strength for Kalein lies in its close proximity to one of the world’s greatest convergence cities. (see article below) This location provides easy access to important master teachers and resources.

An additional key strength is the director's (Randy Elrod) life experience. He has lived in the Nashville Metro area for over eight years and currently mentors notable performing artists and also serves on advisory boards for companies such as EMI-CMG music, Willow Creek Arts Movement and Lighten Up Ministries. He also speak and consults for churches such as Saddleback Church, Christ Church and corporations such as Thomas Nelson Publishing, Bob Parks Realty, Creekside Coaching & Consulting, Center For Women In Medicine and Compassion International.  For the past 29 years his career has been working as Pastor of Arts for five churches ranging in size from 200 to 7,000 members.

Kalein Center For Creative Studies is part of Creative Community, Inc. which is a Tennessee corporation presently in 501(c)3 non-profit process.

II. Professional and Advisory Support

Board of Directors

Mark Lee, Artist, Songwriter, Founding Member of the group Third Day. Atlanta, GA
Kari Slusser, Homemaker, Music Business, Business Owner. Franklin, TN
Jeremy Thiessen, Artist, Business Owner. Franklin, TN

Management Advisory Board

Jon Gillett, Financial Manager, Mission Capital Management
Keith Solomon, Esquire, Stonegate Legal Services. Franklin, TN
Ken Davis, President, Lighten Up Ministries. Franklin, TN
Ken Edwards, Life Coach, Counselor and Therapist. Franklin, TN

Accountant
T.D. Hawkins, CPA, Hurd, Hawkins, Myers and Radosevich. Tampa, FL

Insurance Agent
Tim Richards, Farm Bureau. Franklin, TN

Banker
Jean Kurtz, Regions Bank. Brentwood, TN

III. Key Components

1. Beauty/creation/various approaches to life and worship

2. Rest/quiet/solitude

3. Great food (Elijah-cave principle)

4. Some teaching: key paradigm shifts (utilizing teaching when needed that creates experiential moments utilizing the language of the heart such as movie clips, music lyrics, art, etc.)

5. Contemplative listening prayer... participants provided time and solitude with questions for their heart (which they've often killed or numbed) and demanding questions for God (i.e. Theophostic/Sozo, etc.)

6. Other events: spiritually guided experiences

7. Providing a roadmap to deformation (how did I get here... DNA of soul deadness, crisis, etc.) and a critical path to healing (hope!)

8. Utilize, touch all the senses

9. Re:creation: Exercise, hiking, walks, running paths, fishing, etc.

10. Horses/animals... horse and animal therapy... the outside of a horse is truly good for the inside of a man!

11. Opportunities for individual therapy sessions if needed

12. Spaces Within Communities (Relais & Chateaux concept)

13. Community... healing best takes place within the context of community.... even strangers can form lifelong bonds.

IV. Start Up Costs (Estimated)

Land Costs            124 acres @ 1,800 per acre                              $ 223,200
Lodge Costs           4,000 sq. ft. @ 150 per sq ft                               600,000
Power                                                                                             20,000
Water                                                                                               3,000
15 cabins              900 sq ft each                                                 1,350,000
20 acres with house and renovations                                                300,000
Chapel                                                                                             75,000
3 Tree Houses                                                                                  75,000
Director (12 months)                                                                        75,000

Why Nashville?

A Call To Creative Convergence
By Randy Elrod

The August 2007 issue of Fast Company magazine recognizes Nashville as a city on the verge - as one of five Cultural Centers shaping the world's future.

A convergence city possesses opportunity (a culture that nurtures creative action and game-changing enterprise), innovation (investing in physical, cultural, and intellectual infrastructure that will sustain growth) and energy (that ethereal thing that happens when creative people collect in one place).

When asked about prior knowledge of Nashville, Irish guests visiting O’More College of Design answered, “Tennessee Ernie Ford, Jack Daniels and country music.”

We who call Music City home know there is much more to this artists' paradise. Nashville is known as “The Athens Of The South” because of its myriad institutions of higher education.

Today we are a metro area that claims more musicians per capita than anywhere on earth. The Schermerhorn is one of the finest Symphony Halls in the world. We have a Film Festival and a Screenwriter’s Conference. Our Nashville Children’s Theatre has been ranked by TIME magazine as one of the top five children's theatres in the country.

The new downtown library is one of the finest in the world. The library’s Public Arts Program brought in local graphic artists, authors, photographers, painters, sculptors, and metalworkers to enrich the building.

Within her environs Nashville contains world famous Music Row, music powerhouses BMI and ASCAP, over 180 recording studios, more than 80 record labels, 130 music publishers, 40 national producers of ad jingles, 27 entertainment publications, 5,000 working union musicians, the Contemporary Christian Music Industry and major book publishing companies, including Ingram Industries-one of America’s largest privately held businesses.

Total employment impact of her music industry is more than 54,000 jobs and the economic impact totals $6.38 billion. Billion! Seattle, Austin, Memphis and the state of Georgia combined totals only $3.14 billion.

This “green” multi-billion dollar arts business also brings the advantage of a clean industry. Brains - not buildings and factories - house the power of the creative class, producing beauty rather than toxic waste.

Like Florence, Italy and the powerful Medici family - Nashville affords local connoisseurs the ability to patronize the arts as do few cities worldwide. We must rethink our buying patterns and look within to our own creatives for art purchases and commissions.

The hope is that when global citizens are asked in the future what Nashville means to them, they will not answer as Edmund Blackadder memorably lamented, “To us the Renaissance was just something that happened to other people”. Sadly, it was probably the citizens of Florence to whom he was referring. For nowhere else were the ingredients that enabled the Renaissance to flourish--a politically-active citizenry, a vigorous humanist movement and abundant wealth--better blended.

Nashville has these ingredients and must seek to enhance them to hold her head high as a global cultural center. A city that chooses not to sit on her creative class as a Renaissance passes her by.

Randy Elrod is a writer, speaker, artist and founder/CEO of the Franklin based Creative Community, Inc. He blogs daily at Ethos