Malte Leander

Keeping track of callouts and events and getting comfortable about the processes of applying to open calls and writing grants is a big piece of the puzzle in making things come together. 

Career questions with Malte

What do you love most about your work, and what inspired you to pursue this career in the first place? 

To be able to work creatively is what to me feels the most important. I can't really see myself putting as much time, passion and commitment to anything else really. I believe that art changes the world and has the potential to move mountains. I come from a family of artists and have always been inspired by the different paths that both of my parents took to figure out their own ways to work in their own respective practices. 

Looking back, what skills have been the biggest gamechangers in your career? 

I think that being able to have a good understanding of the administrative side of things is something that has helped me immensely. Keeping track of callouts and events and getting comfortable about the processes of applying to open calls and writing grants is a big piece of the puzzle in making things come together. 

How did Concordia prepare you for your career? 

I was someone that was very curious about engaging in a variety of things. During my undergraduate degree, I was running the student association for the electroacoustics program for a while, I was on the board for the Fine Arts Student Alliance, received a Concordia Undergraduate Student Research Award (CUSRA), and was an undergraduate fellow with the Milieux Institute. These experiences helped to give me real-life experience that made the transition out into the field of work that I'm now actively working in.

The electroacoustic program certainly shifted my perspective and approaches to working with sound and music, in a way that I wouldn't have been able to do on my own.

What is a standout memory from your time at Concordia? 

I'd have to say that receiving the CUSRA award is a big one. The award allowed me to dive deep into an artistic project, which in this instance was around electronic instrument design. I was able work to work with the facilities and resources of the Digital Fabrication Shop at Concordia over a summer. This gave me a taste for what a funded artistic project could feel like and left me striving for more periods such as that one. 

If you could give your younger self one powerful piece of advice, what would it be? 

To not spend so much time worrying. I still worry about the future, and if I'll be able to make things work long-term with my artistic practice, but much less so than when I was younger. I'm of the belief that persistence and dedication pay off, so my advice would be to channel energy towards that as opposed to letting yourself get paralyzed by pondering the many different ways that things could go. 

What’s the most exciting shift happening in your industry right now? 

I think that the post digital approach to artistic practices, in combination with slow tech, and intentionality, are all key terms that I see being discussed in the sectors that I work in, which I find to be much healthier approaches to be able to continue to create in the fast-paced working climate that we find ourselves in.

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