Meet Mark Turk | Musician, Nonprofit Founder

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mark Turk and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mark, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I guess I believe in the idea of “a calling” Like a lot of kids in my generation, I was told to go to college, get good grades, earn your degree and get a good paying job. I definitely tried to do that, but it never felt right to me. By my junior year in college, I met several like minded people, started an alt-rock band, and was having the time of my life. Things started making sense to me, and I knew that if I was going to be happy in life, I needed to involve music and creativity.

At this point in my life, I really do value the idea of “following your gut.” Its your body’s way of helping you make decisions.

What should our readers know about your business?
My nonprofit, Beat 4 Beat, gives local musicians paid gigs to teach underserve students. We provide a holistic, nontraditional experience classroom for the kids. The curriculum is built around the music interests and experience of the instructors and students. We find this promotes engagement with the kids and builds friendships that can last well after we leave them.

The journey to starting Beat 4 Beat was a bit of a spiritual one. I spent my 20’s writing music with bands and performing anywhere I could get booked. At that point in my career, I was a full time local gigging musician. This is a tough life, because you are always looking for small gigs to put together enough income to survive. I was doing a bit of everything; performing, booking, audio engineering, and teaching.
I heard that there was a school looking for an afterschool rock band coach at a local high school, and found my way into that position. After one semester, I saw that it wasn’t only my music knowledge that the kids wanted, but my life experience from my past had also drawn them to me. At that point, I realized musicians with my experience could bring a lot of value to these kids. I also saw that there was so much more in terms of enhancing the quality of the classroom experience that could be done. So I followed my gut instinct that told me this is what I should be doing with my career at this moment.
Beat 4 Beat was born.
There have been, and still are, so many challenges. I’ve learned a lot of lessons along the way, but perhaps the biggest is to always keep in mind that I should always strive to learn. There’s always people that know more than you, and I am always looking to learn from them. I’m trying to stay away from telling myself “I Got This” because while that maybe true in certain moments, there’s probably more to learn.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
OH wow, this is tough for Austin…its changed so much over the last 20 years and is still evolving. And there’s just so many great places here… if you come during one of the festivals, you could spend a week just hanging there.
-Town Lake is a must. Taking a walk down the hike and bike trail, do some kayaking, take in the beautiful views of nature and downtown architecture at the same time. Wrap it up with taking in the Congress bridge bats at dusk. Awesome.
-Bar hopping on East 6th. In my opinion, this is the area to go these days for some good bar hopping. You got dance clubs, dive bars, restaurants and music venues all in a couple of blocks. Something for everyone.
-Austin Breweries. If you love great beers and chillin, there’s so many amazing options here.
-Barton Springs Pool. The pool is fed entirely from a natural spring, a favorite for long time Austinites.
-Texas Capital – A gorgeous building where you can get some politics, beautiful grounds and history all in one spot.
-Alamo Drafthouse – Always fun for any movie lover, grab the nostalgic movie experience and great food. Catch one of their theme shows like Master Pancake Theater, where comedians mock the movie LIVE.
-University of Texas. There’s just a great energy when you are on a college campus. UT campus has the history and the modern vibes wrapped together. The Drag is still just so hip!
-Paramount Theatre. Historic downtown theater where you can soak in the vibes from last century, and catch a great band, play, comedian or classic movie.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There are so many people that have inspired me along the way. For me, its been musicians, both famous and local, and nonprofit leaders in the Austin area. But I wouldn’t be where I am today without the love and support of my wife, Jenni Taylor. When I met Jenni, I was in a touring rock band, but was starting to get “a little long in the tooth” for that life. With her help, I was able to start my own nonprofit, where I took both my education and experience to work; helping kids that (to my surprise) needed someone like me in their lives.

Website: https://beat4beat.org/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oofighters/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-turk-75207129/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF2jnkhP2hA8qZrVh4cXLCg

Image Credits

1st 3 B/W gig photos – Stevie – https://www.instagram.com/theshadowslight/
Beat 4 Beat event photos – Georges Schemagin – https://www.instagram.com/georgespictures/