Daily Inspiration: Meet Emily Laurance

Today we’d like to introduce you to Emily Laurance.

Hi Emily, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
By training I am a professional classical musician and a music historian. I’ve worked as a professor in San Francisco and then back in Northeastern Ohio, at Oberlin Conservatory. In 2022 I founded the Cleveland Silent Film Festival, which marked a new direction for me.
When we lived in San Francisco, my husband and I regularly attended the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, a multi-day event that presents films with live accompaniment performed by internationally known silent film musicians at the historic Castro Theatre. We soon befriended the musicians of the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, an ensemble based in Colorado. By watching films with Mont Alto and other performers I discovered what a transformative theatrical experience silent film with live music can be.
When we moved to Cleveland, I began to pursue the idea of presenting my own festival. While teaching at Oberlin in 2022, I organized a Winter Term project for Oberlin student musicians to learn how to assemble scores to accompany silent films, coaching with Mont Alto’s music director. At the end of Winter Term, students performed their scores to film scenes they selected to a full house of film goers. To help cover the costs of bringing Mont Alto to Cleveland, I booked them for several more events at the Cleveland Institute of Art’s Cinematheque. The resulting multi-day series—which included four films, panel discussions, and a chamber music concert—I ambitiously called the “First Cleveland Silent Film Festival.” It came together so beautifully that I was inspired to make it an annual event.
In the past year we expanded our programming, beginning a free monthly series of films with live accompaniment presented at the downtown Cleveland Public Library. In this way we keep our name in the news on a regular basis, and we lower the bar to access by making the screenings free and centrally located. In our monthly series we’ve used local musicians, which has meant that we are cultivating the art of silent film accompaniment in our own region.
Our 2025 festival is coming up this September at the Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art and at the Cinematheque at the Cleveland Institute of Art. Our opening event is a centennial screening of the classic PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, presented with the original 1925 score played by an eighteen-piece orchestra, and immediately afterwards we’ll have our opening night party at the Heights Theater in Cleveland Heights.
Has it been a smooth road? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Mounting and running a silent film festival does present challenges. One of the biggest is managing cashflow. To start a performing arts nonprofit, you need compelling programming ideas to attract both a public and grant money. Since most funding for new organizations is project-based, there is little support for general operations when you start out. To keep the stream of money going, you have to generate a constant stream of innovative programming ideas. I recently told my board President that, as the saying goes, it’s rather like flying a plane while building it at the same time.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Mounting and running a silent film festival does present challenges. One of the biggest is managing cashflow. To start a performing arts nonprofit, you need compelling programming ideas to attract both a public and grant money. Since most funding for new organizations is project-based, there is little support for general operations when you start out. To keep the stream of money going, you have to generate a constant stream of innovative programming ideas. I recently told my board President that, as the saying goes, it’s rather like flying a plane while building it at the same time.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Running a small volunteer organization means you have to do some of everything. In consultation with the board and with the musicians we work with, I plan the programming, write and prospect for grants, and act as donor, volunteer, and office manager. I also write and design newsletter content, secure film rights, and oversee financial management—among other things. That being said, I’m fortunate to have an active and dedicated six-member board to help me with these tasks, so I’m not doing it alone. I’m especially proud of the high quality of the music that characterizes our events.

In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
A lot has been written recently about the demise of traditional movie theaters. Though concerning, what we offer is durable (around for over 125 years!) and distinctive — with its combination of film and live musical performance, it’s something that isn’t easily replicated at home or online. In an age when people long for in-person, shared experiences, free from digital mediation, classic silent films offer communal bonding with an emotional resonance that only live music can provide.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.clevelandsilentfilmfestival.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clesff/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CLESFF