Strings Attached
If you’ve experienced live instrumental music out and about in Sioux Falls in the past decade, odds are you’ll recognize Andrew Reinartz. He’s something of a staple in the local performing arts scene—and in recent years that visibility has extended to a statewide level thanks to his educational and outreach efforts.
Just like any performing artist, it’s all about finding that comfort zone between creating because it’s your passion and creating for your day job, which in Reinartz’s case is serving as community development director for Arts South Dakota, a statewide, nonprofit focused on arts advocacy, support and education.
“You can keep your passion as your hobby at the same time as it’s your job,” Reinartz said. “That’s a delicate balance.”
It’s a balance he’s been striking since first picking up an instrument in his youth. And growing up in Sioux Falls, Reinartz has developed a penchant for wanting to spread a love of music to his home state—and a determination to prove that it is possible to make a living as a performing artist in South Dakota. Albeit with a bit of creative flexibility.
“There’s still almost no way to make a living purely as an artist in South Dakota,” he said. “Even some of the people I know who make a living in music don’t do so as performers only. They teach, they arrange—it’s that juggling act of keeping enough time for your creative pursuits but also being able to be selective in what you do.”
Andrew Reinartz performing Sparse with Jami Lynn Main Stage at Sioux Falls JazzFest (Credit: Christian Begeman)
And Reinartz puts that theory into practice, pairing his outreach work with Arts South Dakota with a full schedule of private lessons, performing with groups such as the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra (SDSO), gigging for singer-songwriter performers such as Jami Lynn and Eliza Blue and participating in his own groups like JAS Quintet and the newly formed Merry Martial.
“The hardest part is less managing the time with all the groups and more making sure I carve out enough time for the ‘play’ version of playing,” Reinartz said. “If all I wanted to do was write or get better at an instrument, I could just do that in my basement. But I want to be able to perform and work with other people.”
This musician’s love of performing has been evident, anecdotally speaking, since birth. His mom played guitar and performed with her church choir. “Apparently while I was a baby I would crawl over and strum the guitar while she was playing,” he said.
And though his first instrument was piano, Reinartz picked up a bass for the first time in a fourth grade orchestra setting, leading to lessons from SDSO section leader Mario Chiarello throughout high school.
This connection allowed him to join with the city’s youth orchestra and even occasionally sub for an SDSO concert or two. In fact, Reinartz has been playing in some capacity with SDSO ever since his senior year of high school in 2001.
“I’m not entirely sure even why I was drawn to the bass,” he said. “Some of it was that I was tall. But there was something about the sound of it that drew me in right away. It just felt earthy and foundational—it felt very rooted.”
His interest in classical music gave way to electric and upright bass, as well, opening up a world of jazz, rock and pop style to his repertoire.
Andrew Reinartz performing Holiday Jam with the Hegg Brothers (Credit: Robin Stark)
“I think what kind of kept me on the bass was that you need a bass in every style of music,” Reinartz said. “My brain gets bored really easily, so being able to be involved in such a wide variety of musical styles kept me engaged with it.”
And engaged he’s stayed—even his family ties can attest to that. Reinartz had assistance in picking out his first electric bass in middle school from his now-father-in-law, in fact. Reinartz’s wife Rosanne grew up in the household of a gigging musicians, and he cites her own deep-rooted history with instrumental music as a source of her support for his performance career.
“She’s unbelievably supportive,” he said. “When we bought our house, I asked if we could set up some stuff in the basement and have rehearsals, and she said, ‘Only if I’m home so I can listen.’ It’s unbelievably cool to have such a supportive spouse.”
But Reinartz’s work in the performing arts goes well beyond the city limits of Sioux Falls. As part of his role with Arts South Dakota, he focuses on supporting artist and arts organizations around the state. This includes supporting funding for arts in schools and the 30-plus active community arts councils in South Dakota—from Aberdeen to Custer to Leola.
“These are organizations that are really able to be arts leaders and arts supporters in their communities and provide a lot of opportunities that wouldn’t otherwise exist for young people,” Reinartz said. “We’re trying to do what we can to support their work—to provide professional development opportunities and to try to get people together, whether it’s statewide arts conferences or regional meetings—because so many people are so isolated.”
With 15-plus years of local (and now statewide) arts involvement under his belt, Reinartz shows no signs of letting up anytime soon. JAS Quintet released its second album of original jazz just last June, and the group will debut its Jazz Curators collaboration 1959—The Shape of Change to Come in early 2020 in Sioux Falls.
But building up the next generation of players seems to be the most rewarding part of Reinartz’s efforts overall, best personified by his opportunities to play for and speak with the state’s young people through the years, such as subbing with the SDSO’s Young People’s Concert series early on his performing career.
“Just being in a space like that at that age with an orchestra like that—I’ll never forget the look on the fourth graders’ faces when they walked in,” he said. “The audible ‘wows’ and big eyes—just seeing that kind of inspiration was huge for me.”