By Roland Brammer, contributor 
Muschette-Kirk - Contributed
New York:
Jamaicans are known all over the world as trend-setters and are always creating some historical firsts.
Picture this - a Jamaican working in an international ballet school as the dean, a ballet school with world-renowned Russian ballet stars and prima donnas as teachers; a school comprised of many international students from Canada, Europe, Japan, Korea, Mexico and Turkey, about 90 per cent white.
Carol Muschette-Kirk broke the mould when she joined the Kirov Academy of Ballet as Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs on July 1, 2000 and two weeks later became interim Dean of the school.
This year, the school was conferred with the prestigious title of Outstanding School for 2002 by the Youth America Grand Prix Board.
Mrs. Muschette-Kirk said that many of the graduates are with world-renowned ballet companies, such as the Kirov Ballet in St. Petersburg, the Royal Ballet in London, the American Ballet Theater in New York and the Washington Ballet in Washington, DC.
Life at the Kirov
The only dancing Mrs. Muschette-Kirk knows is what she did (creative) with Sabrina Williams and Gabrielle Harban (of NDTC fame) from the Knox College connection and that was not Russian ballet and certainly not the classical vaganova technique (court ballet) that the Kirov is known for. To hear her tell how she landed the job is truly amazing.
The story goes something like this.
Mrs. Muschette-Kirk was looking for a job in the education section of the newspaper and read where this 'KAB' wanted an assistant dean, she answered the advertisement, was called and told to report for an interview.
When she arrived, it turned out to be the Kirov Academy of Ballet.
"The building was so beautiful and the place felt so peaceful that I fell in love with the school," said Mrs. Muschette-Kirk.
Luckily for her they offered her the position. At the Kirov Academy she supervises the academic faculty, planning the annual academic curriculum, hiring staff, creating good relationships with parents, keeping track of the students' academic programme, assisting with SAT and college preparatory programmes. "I truly enjoy it," she said.
She is not foreign to the field of academia or living in that environment, having been raised in a home of parents who were strict school administrators.
She is the daughter of Kathleen Bryan Muschette and the late Clinton Muschette, renowned educators and luminaries in the arts in Manchester. Mrs. Muschette-Kirk's father was a gifted tenor, choral director, organist, composer, college instructor, and piano teacher of his private studio. He was former chairman of the Manchester Cultural Committee which he served for many years.
"I can't forget the dramatic skits written by my mother for school and the dramatic roles played by both parents in church plays and musicals, such as 'Pirates of Penzance' she said.
Mrs. Muschette-Kirk also recalled the Christmas cantatas and the Sunday evening concerts at which her father performed for free at churches throughout the entire island. In the over 40 years of his musical career, he must have missed only 50 Sunday evening concerts.
"It was a passion, absolutely incredible," she said. Mrs. Muschette-Kirk has arranged two of her father's many musical compositions into choral orchestral pieces depicting the life of Marcus Garvey. "Even today, I am in awe of my mother's literary brilliance, her personal letters are mini essays on abstract thought and life, her oral presentations are a work of art", she states.
Mrs. Muschette-Kirk is the first and only recipient of the Jamaica Anglican Church scholarship to Bishop's High School in Mandeville where she received several music awards. She attended Knox College for her advanced high school programme then received an Education diploma in Junior Secondary Education from the Shortwood Teachers' College.
She graduated from Rutgers University with a B.A. degree in Journalism, Mass Communication and Music. She will complete her M.S. degree from Harvard Law School, John's Hopkins University and Faith Bible University this year.
Mrs. Muschette-Kirk has taught at all educational levels, in public and private school systems at the elementary and high school levels in the District of Columbia and Montgomery County in Maryland. She interned at Pembroke Hall Secondary in Jamaica during her Shortwood College years and also at Calabar High for a year, then returned to Knox College to teach.
In September 1977, with only US$50 that was allowed at the time, she left Knox College to the United States to study music, radio and television production at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. She studied classical music and jazz arranging and composition with jazz greats Kenny Barron and Larry Ridley.
"I survived off scholarships from Rutgers, I was the recipient of several foreign students' scholarships," she said.
A former researcher and assistant to Associate Professor Ivan VanSertima in the Department of African Studies at Rutgers University, Mrs. Muschette-Kirk also performed administrative duties in the Office of the Dean of Students, supervising over 1,000 undergraduate women in residence and advisor to several student organisations for four years. She managed the whole gamut of residence life as she so aptly put it, "managing three large dorms with over a dozen resident assistants responsible to me," she said. She was in charge of security and the psychological and health management of students in residence.
Creating more 'firsts'
Mrs. Muschette-Kirk described working as community relations officer at the Jamaican Embassy and information attache at the Consulate General as periods in her life that were very fulfilling.
"I enjoyed reaching out to the Jamaican communities throughout the U.S. and enjoyed even more the response from these communities," she said.
In 1997, she received an award from the National Association of Jamaican and Supportive Organisations (NAJASO) for her contributions to the community.
Life was not always easy for Mrs. Muschette-Kirk as she has held many jobs "to put bread on the table and pay the mortgage, I had a job at Jordan Kitts Music in Maryland where I sold Steinway and Bosendorfer grand concert pianos, huge computerised organs, electronic keyboards and equipment related to these instruments, I not only had to sell them but play them as well in order to bring a crowd of mall shoppers into the store," said the accomplished musician, church organist and piano player.
Mrs. Muschette-Kirk is now a producer and host of her own talk show Does It Matter on WIAV TV, Channel 58 in Washington, D.C. Except for Rutgers University, this is her first time in television production and finds it hectic and energising. She is also the founder and president of the Caribbean American Women's Organisation (CAWO).
