Scott Page, the saxophonist/guitarist for super groups, Pink Floyd, Supertramp, and Toto, and a serial entrepreneur and technologist, is a true divergent in the field of music, education, and the science of making one small thing happen at a time for the betterment of humanity. Through a creative and cutting-edge company called Think: EXP he has fashioned a destiny celebrating a method to “bridge the gap between human spirit and technological innovation with one of a kind live immersive concert experiences.” The concerts take place in a 360 degree immersive projection dome that creates a shared VR like experience to entice their audiences into a different realm. Using one of the many facets of Think: EXP, Scott is working with the Harold Robinson Foundation, an organization with “a vision to help counter social and economic disparities in South Central Los Angeles, by building bridges between student groups with unconventional means.”
Along with Scott Page, (who now sits on the advisory board), David Moss (President), and a host of others, the Harold Robinson Foundation sends as many South LA youths and their families as they can to a three day outdoor camp experience. These are children who go to schools with gangs on every corner who have probably never stepped out of South LA. In collaboration with the foundation, Scott and his supergroup are working on building a music lab for the community in one of the most challenging areas in the whole country.
Scott enjoys a compelling history of cultivating charitable events throughout his career, ranging from “Feeding America” to the “National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.” He is also an anomaly when it comes to the musical and technical creation of them.
What inspired your interest in The Harold Robinson Foundation, and what exactly does the Foundation do?
20 years ago I took a very deep inward looking spiritual journey thats taking me down a path not only personally but also down a path exploring a conscious capitalism approach to business. Conscious Capitalism is based on the premise that conscious businesses have a meaningful purpose beyond profits and focuses on creating a win win for all stakeholders and those impacted by the business. Think:EXP is all about this approach to business.
Throughout my life I’ve either played on, worked on or produced a verity of charitable events, such as “The Grand Scientific Musical Theatre”, which was a multi-media fundraiser in Las Vegas for 16,000 people to benefit the “National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.” to doing a giant flash-mob taking over the entire Universal City Walk where we had hundreds of professional and amateur dancers show up for “Feeding America”. It was called “Silly Walks for Hunger”, that coincided with the 40th Anniversary of Monty Python whom I was working with at the time. So I’ve been involved in these types of events for a long time.
How did you connect up with the Harold Robinson foundation?
A few years back I met David Moss, the President of “The Harold Robinson Foundation.” We hit it off big time and we became really good friends. He introduced me to Norwood Fisher ( Bass player from Fishbone) and Flea (from the Red Hot Chili Peppers) and explained how they together were starting a music program smack in the middle of Watts in South Central LA at Markham Middle School Which is considered one of the toughest neighborhoods in the country, a neighborhood completely surrounded by gangs.
The Harold Robinson Foundation currently produces youth empowerment programs for these inner city kids. They take them and there families up to a beautiful camp up in the Angles Crest Forrest for 3 day retreats that truly changes these family’s lives. After seeing how powerful their programs were without hesitation I was onboard.
So when did Think:EXP get involved ?
Last year during the NAMM show, (The National Association of Music Merchants), Norwood and I produced four nights of all star jams after at “The House of Blues” and we made it a fundraiser for “The Harold Robinson Foundation.” and that’s how this all got started.
What do you like most about the organization?
The thing that I love about the Harold Robinson foundation besides the people and their mission is a philosophy we both share that is “We go small first.” I’ve always believed in this model.
What do you mean Go Small first?
Going small doesn’t mean you’re doing something small and insignificant but taking a very manageable approach with measurable outcomes. instead of trying to save the world, let’s just do what we can control around us, where we can really make the biggest impact and see real results. If everyone would just clean up and inspire what’s right in front of them the world would be a much better place.
At HRF they have taken this one school, this one place in LA and put all their efforts into helping that local community see real results with the goal to perfect the process and programs that work and then scale after there is a repeatable process. It’s very lean startup principle thinking which I am a major fan of and the data shows it’s been incredibly successful.
That’s a powerful concept, I think you might be right. How does your company Think:EXP play a roll?
I have this view that for-profit businesses should team up with non profits to create strategies to help one another. By leveraging the power of each other’s brand makes good business sense and creates a win win that can help the bottom line for the company and create a self- sustaining source of revenue for the non profit.
At Think:EXP we are committed to doing just that. So we are building a corporate structure that includes financial support, marketing support and facilitating other corporate sponsors to get involved in HRF At Think:EXP We take a “We First” approach to business.
How have you been supporting HRF so far?
As mentioned above Think:EXP Is an immersive experience based entertainment company and we are currently doing our first Think Experience which is a Think:FloydEXP called “Beyond the Wall” an immersive exploration of Pink Floyd in a 360 degree immersive dome in Los Angles with an all star band.
We’ve been experimenting with different ways to generate funds for HRF. For example, Stephen Perkins our drummer from Janes Addiction took one of his cymbals and instead of just auctioning off a signed cymbal, we wanted to make something special. So We had pop artist Jimmy Olvedia paint it in real time in front of the audience during the show, then we all signed it and it was auctioned of at the end of the night as a one of a kind piece of art. The audience watching it unfold in real time is really yielding results. We’ve done the same thing with a bass Norwood donated and a bunch of my Pink Floyd memorabilia. Turning this stuff into art for sure increases the auction value a bunch. The last few shows we raised around $10,000 and we are continuing doing this at every show.
We are also figuring out ways to use our shows to build the community around HRF, create unique merchandise and build a donation into ticket sales,
I like it.
It’s actually my friend Simon Mainwaring who is the founder and CEO of “We First.” It’s really a modeling of what I learned from him
How can you be sure that the children will take advantage of these programs?
They already are, we’ve been doing a few of these programs and It’s been great, the kids have been loving it. Our goal is Instead of kids hanging out on the streets after school they go to hang out at the music lab, write music and empower them with knowledge.
Sounds like these kids will grow up differently than they would have without the benefits of the foundation.
HRF had been doing working in the community for eleven years. They have data points now that are pretty remarkable. They have seen these kids grow up, and what it’s meant to so many of them, and what it’s done to the family. It’s pretty extraordinary actually.
Well then you might be saving the world with one of these kids without knowing it.
No question, it only takes one person to do a remarkable thing that can change the world and you never know where that one person May come from. And God willing, just maybe this kid will be influenced by the youth empowerment programs being done by the Harold Robinson Foundation. Go HRF!!
Scott Page is continuing to hold gigs in a 365 virtual reality dome with the Think: EXP and can be seen April 26/27 and May 17/18 at the Wisdome in LA.hh