Sounding Softly with Nina Nichols
A conversation with the mayoral candidate on the creative economy, gentrification, and the lessons learned from a background in music
When people show you who they are, believe them. Maya Angelou taught us this, in so many words. And as I was reminded recently by Maria Popova, the inverse is also an important lesson. It is far too easy to make assumptions about others. As Popova says, we are the only custodian of our integrity.
Let us sit with that truth for a moment.
The conversation I’ve shared below is with Nina Nichols, the Democratic candidate for mayor of my small city — Troy, NY. I know those of you reading this hail from all parts of the United States, and indeed, the world. Whether or not you have a stake in the local politics of Upstate New York, my hope with all of these conversations is that they offer a glimpse into the inner world of someone distant. May we find common ground through a sparked memory, or perhaps a learned realization through our differences. Truly, is there anything better than internalizing that there is no single way to live a beautiful life?
This is perhaps a roundabout way of introducing a conversation with Nina, but it feels important. Politics gets ugly. The internet gets ugly. The way we talk about others gets ugly. There is tremendous stress and true horror in the world, always, and especially right now. Be kind, when you can. Be gentle, when you can. Be generous, when you can.
A Short PSA
State and local elections are coming up fast on November 7. If you’re in New York, the deadline to register to vote is Oct. 28. If you’re registered, you can find your polling place here. I can’t stress enough the importance of voting in local elections. These elections can be won by single digits, and local elected officials have a big impact on our day-to-day lives.
In Conversation with Nina Nichols
I met Nina soon after my husband Sam and I moved to Troy in 2018. Since then, Nina and her wife Julia have become some of our closest friends. Sam and I also make music together with Julia in various capacities. Watching them both go through this journey over the last few years — from when Nina’s mayoral candidacy was simply an idea, until now — has been humbling. Truthfully, I would not wish the punishing campaign process on anyone. But someone has to do it, and despite the intense difficulty, Nina has led an inspiring campaign founded on integrity.
Suffice it to say, I’m all in on Nina’s candidacy. I won’t feign neutrality here. I believe in her as a human-being, and I believe in her ability to do this job with compassion and thoughtfulness and intellectual rigor.
In the conversation that I’m sharing below, we talk about the importance of the creative economy, gentrification, and her background in music. I’ve edited lightly for clarity and length.
Nina, most people probably don't know this, but you have a background in music. Can you tell us about that?
I started taking piano lessons when I was in the 6th grade. The truth is, I wanted to be a fantastic gymnast, but after I got appendicitis, I decided that that was not going to be in my future for some reason. So piano lessons were my next effort, and I loved it! I had a wonderful teacher. I participated in the Texas Music Guild and played for years. But I was also a flute player. I grew up learning that instrument and by the time I was in high school I was pretty competitive. That is a streak that I have.
I tried out for the youth orchestra – the Fort Worth Youth Orchestra – and played in that my senior year in high school. I remember being on stage during the opening parts of Night on Bald Mountain. It's these strings playing, and it's all very mystical. I'd never been on a stage and played in an ensemble with strings before and I totally lost my place for coming in because it was so magical. I also played in college and some in graduate school. I won the Texas State Flute Festival.
Wow. That's a big deal.
It was exciting! I got to play on the radio. It was fun. So, yes, a long time doing that kind of music. Now, my embouchure is totally out of shape and it’s very embarrassing to play these days. So instead I am jumping in with things like Troy Samba, where I play the agogô bell.
And you also still play a little piano, right?
Mona Cannell was my first piano teacher, but my most recent wonderful piano teacher, Sophia Vastek, got me back into playing some of the things I loved. And I'm so grateful for that.
Do you feel like any of the skills that you learned doing all of those musical things growing up inform your life now?
Absolutely. Anything that you want to pursue with excellence requires discipline. You don't get better if you don't put in the time and effort to work on the skills that are necessary to make beautiful music. That has certainly carried over. It takes real discipline to educate oneself on the issues that face a city like Troy and the different solutions that are out there. I also discovered that I love playing with other people.
There's nothing like it.
There isn't. It’s a cooperative effort. Right? You have this vision in mind of what a piece could sound like if everyone is playing their part and doing it together. You have to take into consideration what's happening around you and work together to make something beautiful.
Absolutely. Many of my piano students are kids, and one of the biggest things that I think about when I'm teaching them is these skills – the ones that will stick with them for the rest of their lives both within and outside of music.
Do you have any favorite artists? What are you listening to these days?
Well, I love to put in my CD of Sophia Vastek. That's true. And my middle child, Moses, also loves to listen to it – it's very soothing. Music can open up ways of thinking. To listen to something carefully makes space for jumbled thoughts to begin to smooth out. Listening provides a space in which we can figure out the path forward. So I appreciate your music. I appreciate Sam's music as well. We don't have to know the end when we’re listening to music. We’re creating something together in real time.
The truth is, my favorite musician for a long time was Prince.
Hah, there it is, the truth!
Just a fantastic musician and multi-instrumentalist and creative.
You have mentioned wanting to invest in the creative economy when you are mayor. What does that look like?
I was excited about the Creative Spark Report that just came out. It talks about the creative economy as one of the fastest growing job creators in the Capital Region. I think that's exciting. It’s also something we've long suspected is true, but now there's data to back that up. I think it was Richard Florida who talks about art and culture as being attractive to businesses when they’re looking for places to set up shop. They look for museums, cultural institutions, music and art, and things that make all of our lives collectively better.
Troy already has some of those institutions, like the Arts Center and the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall. We're very, very lucky to have them and we need to continue to invest in what they're doing here. But we also have so many small businesses who are incorporating the arts into part of their business model.
I think about The Ruck and Song City who are bringing people together and showcasing our great artists in Troy and the Capital Region. I would want to encourage those kinds of opportunities and spaces.
In terms of more policy-related things, I've talked a lot about hiring a grant writer. I don't want to leave any dollars unused that might be available to us. That could fall into a lot of different categories, and certainly one of them is the creative economy and the arts. Troy's had some big success in this area. We're really fortunate to have people like Liz Reiss at the Arts Center and Barb Nelson at TAP who've worked together to make things happen with some major financial investments, like Breathing Lights and the Uniting Line Project. Both of those were Bloomberg Philanthropies funded projects – that’s significant money coming into Troy to support the arts. So the city has been a partner in that and should continue to do that.
One thing that I thought was really good about those projects is that they supported the individual artists that were making them happen, which so often the case, unfortunately, is not how it works. Artists bring a project to life and often see the smallest part of the pie, in terms of money but also support and fanfare. We know artists bring very real dollars and value into cities. So as we're thinking about the creative economy, how can we help support the individual artists that are also, themselves, a business. Artists are often self-employed, and their work and contributions as a small business can go overlooked.
I hear you. We need to pay more attention when we're writing proposals. I'm thinking now on the private philanthropy side, like with Bloomberg Philanthropies for instance, we need to ensure that we've built in those pieces where the artists are featured and compensated appropriately. And on the public side, maybe we have a different kind of impact by advocating for those grants to be structured in a way that takes this into account.
Let's talk about gentrification. As you were saying, it's so important that we are a welcoming place for artists where they are supported and able to create work. As property values and rents rise, how do we make sure that people in our neighborhoods don’t get displaced, many of whom are multi-generational Troy residents? Also, how do we make sure the artists themselves don’t get displaced?
Whenever any kind of housing plan gets proposed, it generally seems like a good plan to everybody but the people in the neighborhood where it's being proposed. We have to make sure we have a broad understanding of what affordable housing means.
This is a sticky, complicated issue. I'm going to go back to the discipline and practicing thing that we talked about earlier. This is where discipline comes in, in doing everything I can to learn about the ways communities have responded as these issues are taking hold. It is part of the reason I wanted to run for mayor. Some people talk about how Troy's going to have a resurgence, and I think, “where are you looking?” Because we're fully in a resurgence. We have to preserve the character of our city, which means not displacing the people who have lived here a long time. And we have to continue to be welcoming, which means making space for everyone. To that end, one of the things that I do feel like we can be working on is ensuring that there is quality, affordable housing. We need to be having a conversation about that as a whole Troy community.
Whenever any kind of housing plan gets proposed, it generally seems like a good plan to everybody but the people in the neighborhood where it's being proposed. So having more of a collective thought about our housing needs in Troy is important. We have to make sure we have a broad understanding of what affordable housing means. Sometimes that’s subsidized housing, but it’s also rents that are appropriate for workforce housing as well as tending to our existing housing that is not safe or healthy. I talk a lot about code enforcement and ensuring that there's proactive, scheduled inspections of rental units. People need to have access to clean, quality, safe spaces to live in. This will then also make our neighborhoods safer, which is another issue.
It's all so complex and requires nuanced thinking about how we can provide support, without displacing. And community conversations.
It does. And I do think a lot of that conversation ends up needing to be about housing. That is the number one way we see those negative pieces of gentrification. The positive impact of gentrification — when neighborhoods are safer and look better and folks have resources — we want that for everyone.
One last music question. Do you have any favorite memories of live music experiences in Troy over the years that you'd like to share? I'm sure you have many…
I was briefly on the board of Friends of Chamber Music, and I loved my early experiences with their concerts. It was an opportunity to be on the Emma Willard campus, which is truly beautiful. We had some really excellent chamber groups come through, offering a variety of musical experiences. In my earliest memories, especially, there were usually classical pieces that sandwiched the program and then something very contemporary or unusual that stretched the audience in between. I loved that. And then the fellowship that happened afterwards – community building for folks who came and then got to know each other.
Also, I don't know if you know, but my wife is a musician.
Hah. Yes.
Julia Alsarraf. Some of her shows have been fantastic, but as it has evolved to be Paintbrush Charlie with the full band, that's been great. I thought that the Summer Square show outside of the Music hall was a particularly wonderful night.
That was a really special, fun show.
Troy has so many opportunities to experience wonderful music.
We are so lucky in this city. There’s hardly a night when we're not having to decide between going to this or going to that. And it's really high-quality stuff, too. For a city of our size to have the quality of arts experiences that we do, it's incredible.
It is incredible. Even that night, as the Summer Square concert was ending, there was something else beginning over in Monument Square a block down, and that is usually the way it is. You could go hear multiple fantastic artists in one night.
It's so true. Ah, Troy! Thank you so much, Nina.
Addendum
Wherever you are, don’t forget to vote in your upcoming local elections!
And if you’d like to get involved in Nina’s campaign, it’s not too late. You can learn more at her website.