Mark Rabideau

Artist-entrepreneur, author, educator, and administrator, Mark Rabideau is an international leader in reimagining how artists and institutions can thrive within the contemporary marketplace and respond to the challenges and opportunities we face in the 21st century.

The breadth of Mark’s creative spirit is evidenced by the projects he has produced: STILLPOINT (New Amsterdam Records, 2023), the GRAMMY-nominated album featuring Awadagin Pratt, Roomful of Teeth, and A Far Cry (NPR’s 50 Best Albums of 2023), Live from Smoke, a radio show from NYC's upper-westside that aired to 250,000 weekly-listeners, The Global Musician Workshop, a partnership with cellists Mike Block and Yo-Yo Ma; Artists Now, a not-for-profit arts organization, for which he served as Executive/Artistic Director; Worlds End, an original work with the American Repertory Ballet, and Awadagin Pratt: Black in America, a PBS documentary that captures the complexities of America’s original sin by chronicling Pratt’s life from his time as a music student at the Peabody Conservatory through his ascent to international acclaim through graphic accounts of police stops for Driving While Black, (Winner of Audience Choice: Best Short Documentary, Sedona International Film Festival, Sedona, AZ).

As the founder of Art in Unlikely Places – an ongoing project fueled by the belief that art’s transformative powers must be made accessible to the underserved - Mark co-created a music project within Putnamville Correctional Facilities with Musicambia; issued a call to (and offered scaffolding for) young artists to see themselves as agents for doing good; and launched nourish, a national program that asks, “What can we learn – as artists and as people – when we listen to voices that are unlike our own?”

A compelling arts advocate, Mark has delivered recent talks at Juilliard, Curtis, Yale, Cornell, The Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Eastman Leadership Academy, American College in Greece, and American University in Cairo (Egypt) – where he was named Distinguished Visiting Researcher. Mark has served on The Quincy Jones Musiq Consortium, is President of the College Music Society, was the founding Director of the 21st Century Musician Initiative (Yo-Yo Ma, Board Chair), and is a member of The Recording Academy. Judd Greenstein, composer and co-founder of New Amsterdam Records said of Mark, “He’s a stalwart champion of contemporary music and an ally in the general opening-up of things culturally.”

Mark has served as editor and publisher for 21CM.org, an online journal about the future of music, was a founding member of the editorial board for Artivate – A Journal of Entrepreneurship in the Arts, and is senior editor for Emerging Fields in Music (Routledge). He has authored two books, Doing Good: Entrepreneurial Musicians Making a Difference (Project 440, 2019) and Creating the Revolutionary Artist (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018) – recipient of the 2018 Society for Arts Entrepreneurship Educators’ Innovative Arts Entrepreneurship Pedagogy Award.

A Getzen Artist, Mark has presented clinics, programs, and concerts throughout the United States, South America, Asia, and Europe, including appointments as Artist- Faculty for the International Trombone Festival in Brasilia, Brazil (2007, 2010), and Beijing, China (2007). Mark’s bravest moments performing have been with “The World’s Most Dangerous Orchestra” (Juárez, Mexico), and most cherished while commissioning, recording, and performing new chamber music with his quartet, CTQ.

Mark is most inspired when helping artists make a difference in the world and when helping people who want to make a difference in the world become more creative. His only hobby is collecting curious, creative people.

Mark has three beautifully talented children, Mary Pauline, Luke, and Aidan and is married to the love-of-his-life, Laura.

Dr. Rabideau is Associate Professor of Music and Associate Dean for Faculty and Student Affairs for the College of Arts & Media at the University of Colorado Denver.