Erin J. McGrane
Performing Artist | Author
ERIN MCGRANE is an award-winning actress, musician, author; public speaker, and professional development mentor. Notably, Erin appears in the Oscar-nominated film UP IN THE AIR, alongside George Clooney. She toured extensively with her musical group, Victor & Penny, releasing four full-length albums, performing 1,100 live dates in 40 US states and three countries, and traveling more than 275,000 miles over the road. Erin is a co-founder and host of an annual immersive event focused on creativity, writing, performance, and songwriting.
Since 2010, she has helped artists of all disciplines reach their goals by serving as a peer facilitator, mentor, workshop presenter, and content creator through Artist INC., a professional development program of the Mid-America Arts Alliance and Charlotte Street Foundation. As a performing artist, Erin has appeared on stage, screen, TV, and radio in hundreds of performances in various projects and collaborations.
Erin is a passionate arts and artist advocate, seeking to put artists at the center of the cultural conversation. Erin is a founding board member of Heartland Song Network, whose vision is to create a sustainable music industry in the Heartland. She serves as the Executive Director for Ensemble Iberica, an organization fostering a global perspective and deeper cultural understanding through music. Erin was an invited Artist Advisor for the redevelopment of the Kansas City Airport Terminal. She is a voting member of SAG-AFTRA, the Folk Alliance International, and is AE eligible. Erin received grants from regional arts organizations and has participated in several artist-in-residencies, including the “Escape 2 Create” month-long residency in Florida.
Currently, Erin is authoring a collection of poems and essays for a spoken-word project set to original music entitled, “Sounds Like A Feeling.” She has published one chapbook of poetry, has been published in several literary publications, and had four poems selected for inclusion into the anthology entitled “Out of the Darkness and Into the Light.” Erin was honored in KC Magazine’s “The 100: People who Make Life Better in KC" and is proud to say she misspent her youth singing in a rock band.
ARTIST STATEMENT:
My writing offers a sympathetic, wry understanding to those who, like me, are squinting through a magnifying glass at ourselves in a mirror. I mine meaning from the beauty and terror of the fleeting, everyday experience to gain an understanding of our ever-widening world and my place in it.
I seek the understanding and courage to unravel the perplexing complexities of being human in a complicated world. Driven by a desire for connection and self-awareness, I harness the power of language—spoken, lyrical, and musical—to navigate my journey and elicit meaningful connections with those whose lives touch mine.
I write to stoke my imagination and fuel the imaginations of my readers. Memory acts as my roadmap, poetry as my lantern when I can’t see the path, and music as my translator when words fail. Through my writing, I aspire to offer both a safe harbor and a launch pad to healing to those grappling with anxiety, depression, loss, change, and growing older.
Performing my poetry allows me to thrive in the ephemeral space where the deepest connections and memories are forged. Sharing my words in my own voice invites symbiotic interaction with the audience and with other performers, creating shared memories in real time. Collaborating with a composer expands my emotional range, providing me with diverse avenues of expression, recognizing that we all perceive and interpret messages in uniquely. Together, we co-create moments of magic, transcending the boundaries of strangers to form a collective experience.
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