A Career in the Arts

Scott Lindroth standing in front of the Rubenstein Arts Center

The full version of this article is available at DukeStories.

Scott Lindroth’s 13-year tenure as Duke’s first vice provost for the arts will soon conclude, which means the classically trained composer will have more time to bang on motorcycle engine cooling fins and other scrap metals to see what sounds they make. 

Yes, you read that right. 

A Duke faculty member for 30 years now, Lindroth has long had unusual and undefined musical ideas bouncing around in his head and little time to extract them. When his tenure as Duke’s chief advocate for the arts ends June 30, he will finally have time to pursue these barely-baked ideas that have teased and taunted him. A university committee is searching for his successor. 

“I have projects that require a concentration and time I have not had. I’ve kept composing the whole time I’ve been vice provost, but not as productively,” he said one spring day in his new office in the Biddle music building on east campus. “My office is filled with scrap metal that I’ve experimented with over the years but have not yet managed to work into a real composition. The instruments I am most drawn to are a collection of motorcycle heads that have a fantastic variety of surfaces — especially the cooling fins – that resonate as clear pitches.” 

He also has ideas about the sounds he can extract from knitting needles, chop sticks and even the clickety-clacking of typing on a laptop. 

So yes, he has plans.  

A native of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, Lindroth grew up playing piano and saxophone in jazz and fusion bands before enrolling at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, where he received formal classical composition training. On the side, he worked as a composer and sound engineer at a local planetarium — his first paying gig. He earned $6.25 an hour. 

He joined the Duke music faculty in 1990, and in 2007 became Duke’s first vice provost for the arts, just as the university was beginning to give the campus arts scene a significant push. He became the chief arts advocate during a stretch of unprecedented growth, playing a vital role in the expansion of the arts community as it moved from the physical and metaphorical periphery of campus to its center.  

When he started the job, he already had 17 years of faculty experience behind him including a stint as a department chair, so he knew his arts colleagues needed more faculty lines, teaching assistants, equipment, teaching space and other core needs. 

But he quickly realized his role would be far more broad. Looking back now, Lindroth reflects on the many relationships, partnerships and commitments needed to elevate the arts on campus — via investment in myriad ways. Here are excerpts of a recent conversation with Duke Today.

Visit DukeStories to read the interview and view additional photos and video.