By Dr. Thomas Wolf, Principal
An interview with Eun Lee, Artistic Director and Executive Director of The Dream Unfinished
As an arts professional, Eun Lee has prioritized socially relevant musical experiences for audiences of all ages throughout her career. While working as a teaching artist and freelance performer, in 2015 Eun co-founded The Dream Unfinished, an Activist Orchestra, for which she currently serves as its executive and artistic director. Eun has also held administrative positions in legacy institutions such as the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, and she currently serves as Associate Director of Artistic Programming at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and is the Managing Director of the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center.
Thomas Wolf: Thanks so much for talking to me about The Dream Unfinished (https://thedreamunfinished.org/) and your role in creating this remarkable organization. The home page of TDU’s website has a very compelling description of the organization and its mission which I would like to quote:
The Dream Unfinished is an activist orchestra. Its mission is to use classical music as a platform to engage audiences in dialogues surrounding social and racial justice. TDU has people of color in the orchestra, in the music, behind the scenes, and in the audiences. We are an orchestra that looks and sounds like New York City, and through music, we explore pressing social issues affecting our communities.
I wonder if you could talk a bit about its origins.
Eun Lee: I like to say that The Dream Unfinished was founded almost by accident and was originally nothing more than a one-off project. About ten years ago, a disparate collective of musicians, mostly based in New York City, were discussing whether classical music could respond in a meaningful way to one of the most troubling social issues of our time—the treatment of Black people, especially those in police custody, and more broadly the need for racial justice. In a way, we were responding to the Black Lives Matter movement, but we were coming at the issues with a specific musical lens.
We wondered whether there were others with a similar vision that we could talk to and we did some research. But we could not find examples of others doing what we felt needed to be done. So, we decided to create a concert with the purpose of raising funds for civil rights organizations, and at the same time bringing people together who wanted to be part of a community to raise awareness through classical music. That was the extent of our scope at the time. We were not thinking in terms of a permanent organization. We had no budget and didn’t apply for grants. The musicians donated their services, and we rented the venue at a highly discounted rate because the venue contact was also committed to the project. It was amazing energy all focused on that single event.
Wolf: What was the result?
Lee: The result was an indelible experience. It turned out that so many people had been looking for an opportunity to gather (it was the one-year anniversary of Eric Garner’s death). Then right around the time of the concert, there was Sandra Bland’s death in Texas on July 13, 2015. If you had told me at the time that ten years later, all the emotion and energy of that moment would be transformed into an organization, I would have stared at you in disbelief.
Wolf: What convinced you to go beyond the single concert?
Lee: So many of those involved were excited and said, “When are we going to do this again?” Our diverse 98-piece orchestra (who again, had all volunteered their time!) hung around after the concert and many expressed an interest in continuing their participation. But for a long time, we moved slowly. Our thinking was still very much project-oriented—another concert perhaps. Eventually, we decided to work with a fiscal sponsor as we raised money but we did not go the full route of incorporating until 2018.
Wolf: I so wish that others involved in new nonprofit ventures today would be so careful and deliberate. So many incorporate right away before they have even determined whether creating a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation is worth the effort initially and in an ongoing way. When The Dream Unfinished became a nonprofit corporation, what was your role?
Lee: I functioned and continued to function as “staff.” As you know, I have a full-time job with Lincoln Center so “staff” meant I had to do everything in my free time. Since 2018, I have handled both artistic and administrative responsibilities.
Wolf: You obviously had to have a board at that point since it is a legal requirement for a nonprofit corporation. What did your initial board look like?
Lee: Before I answer that question, I would like to go back a bit and talk about how the group of people evolved. You recall that the initial collective was a disparate group of musicians who made things happen at the beginning. Without them, there would have been no concert. But borrowing a metaphor from my current board chair, Lee Bynum, when you are in an election, there is a difference between having the right people to run a campaign and having the right people to staff the successful candidate once that individual takes office. We had great people to get us started and launch the initial event and the ones that followed. We made some of those people part of our initial board. But over time we needed other people who were less focused on how to produce a concert and better-versed in longer-term strategies.
Wolf: How large was your initial board and how large is it now?
Lee: Initially, the group consisted of eight individuals. As we transitioned to a different sort of organization, we lost some of these people and we were down to five. But now, we have rebuilt the board, and we are up to eleven and will probably grow further. I am not a board member and though I am active in discussions, I do not have a board vote (we have a clear division between board functions and staff functions). To a greater and greater extent, I look to the board to help me think about important directions for the future as we reinterpret our mission.
Let me give you an example. One future direction might have been building an orchestra that produced increasing numbers of concerts. But we wondered whether simply replicating a traditional orchestra model would be the most impactful future direction. What if instead we could spread our ideas and concepts to others? One thing we learned when we gave the New York premiere of the Florence Price piano concerto and other organizations picked it up, was that we played a catalytic role in the Florence Price revival—it inspired other performing organizations to expand their repertoire. If we can do this for other neglected historical compositions and living composers, that would be a major contribution to the field. Thinking, planning, and fund raising for building that type of awareness and direction requires a board with a different set of skills, expertise, and networks than simply adding our own orchestra performances.
Wolf: One of the functions of a board is resource development. The large legacy orchestras recruit wealthy people to their boards for this purpose. What is your approach? Do you have a giving requirement, for example?
Lee: We do have a board minimum “give or get” of $250. It is very modest compared to other orchestras but it is more than when we started. At this point, we are less interested in the net worth of our board members and more concerned about people’s willingness to invest their time and expertise and share their connections in helping us forge our vision for the future. Our mission (and thus our board) is also driven by equity (including socio-economic) and diversity and we want to be true to who we are. We have five Black board members, three are white, two Asian and one who has not disclosed ethnicity. Board members are mostly in their 30s and 40s though they range in age up to 60. Six are men, four are women, and one is non-binary.
Wolf: If you were giving advice to others creating new entities in 2025, what might it be?
Lee: Do not move too fast. Do your homework. Find out who else is out there. Consider if collaboration with existing organizations is a more effective direction than creating a totally new one. If you are doing a series of projects (as important and ground-breaking as they may be), remember that there are many simpler and more efficient organizational structures than creating a new 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation.
Wolf: But suppose you do decide to create such a corporate entity, any advice on building a board?
Lee: First, it is so important to have board members who understand and are totally committed to the mission.
Second, make sure the board membership and composition reflect the organization’s values.
Finally (and this is so important), remain flexible in building a board, realizing that at each particular stage of organizational development, you will need new skills and expertise among your board members. As the organization evolves and develops, ideally your board will as well.
This is post is part of our On Our Minds newsletter. Previous issues of On Our Minds can be read here.