Meet Natalie Calma of Box Not Found in East Boston

Today we’d like to introduce you to Natalie Calma.

Natalie, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I moved to the States from Venezuela when I was 15 years old. I went from the tropics to a boarding school in northern Michigan, to study violin. I finished high school at the Interlochen Arts Academy, and decided to go to The Boston Conservatory for my undergrad in violin performance. I fell in love with Boston right away. I was surrounded by people who loved the arts and cared deeply about their community. During my time at the conservatory, I met my now husband and duo partner, Kevin Price. When I finished my undergraduate degree, I went to Boston University to pursue a Master degree in violin performance, and by that point, I knew that I wanted to stay in Boston for as long as I could. Once Kevin and I finished our Master degrees, we got married, and moved to East Boston. Around that time, I became a Big Sister with the Big Sister Association of Greater Boston. My little sister is also an Eastie local. Through my experience with her, I got to see the reality of the neighborhood, its needs and faults, but also it’s loving people and character. Around the same time, Kevin and I wanted to go to a Christian church located in East Boston, and that is how we found Church @ The Well. We were very encouraged by their missional mind set and their determination to love the people of East Boston and serve them in whatever way they could. Through them I became a volunteer with The Well Coffee House in South Station, which is a non-profit coffee house that supports Boston non-profits (a different one each month) by giving them their proceeds. Kevin and I were greatly impacted by this and wanted to take on the coffee house concept and apply it to our musical careers, so we created Box Not Found. Our goal is to fosters relationships with other creative artists, serving as a platform to voice and share their thoughts and ideas, while also generating a positive impact on both the local and global communities. We choose a Boston non-profit organization to support for each concert we have. All of the proceeds from our performance goes to the organization chosen for the concert.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It has been a very interesting road! Moving away from my family at 15 was very rough, I missed a lot of really important moments, especially with my younger brother, and that is something that affected me a lot. My transition from speaking in Spanish to English was also rough. I was always terrified that I was going to say or pronounce something wrong and that people would mock me, which happened a lot… I have also endured much discrimination for being a Latin woman, and as a free-lance musician I face rejection almost on a daily basis. But I have been so blessed to have an extremely supportive family (my mom, dad and brother especially!), a loving and respectful husband, wonderful and talented colleges and an incredibly giving, supportive and caring church family! I think that I am a sum of all of the struggles I’ve had in my path, but I am also who I am today because of all the people that have believed in me.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Box Not Found – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Box Not Found is a violin-clarinet duo. It seeks to build and cultivate the foundations for alternative streams of new music by refusing to adhere to the typical parameters of the contemporary classical music world. We want to be an ensemble that gives space to voices that are typically silent in classical music. We want to educate our audience about the issues that the various Boston communities face, and we want to offer them a way to help and become involved. We love doing all of these things, and we want to make sure that we are doing them by measuring ourselves to the highest standard of excellence and recognizing that everything we do, we do because God gave us a talent that is to be cultivated and harvested, and at the end of the day, it is all for His glory.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
At the moment, we are finishing the planning stages of our second season, which will start in the fall of 2018. We are also in the process of creating a New Music Concert Series that would bring local new music ensembles to East Boston to offer concerts for the community. We want these concerts to also have an educational component, by offering pre-concert talks, blog posts, etc. And we hope that we can start a summer program for any kid in East Boston that has a passion for contemporary performance and free improvisation.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.boxnotfound.com
• Email: boxnotfoundmusic@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boxnotfound/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/boxnotfound
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/boxnotfoundbos
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/nati.calma/

Image Credit:
Russell Hebert
Matthew Wan

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