Congratulations to From the Top’s Megan Swan on Gracie Award

Congratulations to From the Top’s Megan Swan! Megan is the recipient of a 2025 Gracie Award for Producing. The Gracie Awards are presented by the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation.

Megan contributes to From the Top in so many ways, from creating programs to managing staff to coaching our young musicians as they record their beautiful performances. We are especially proud of Megan’s leadership in creating our Musicians with Disabilities Celebration and Musicians from Rural America programs.

Get to know Megan by reading this interview excerpted from Interlude.

How long have you held your position? What do you usually do in it?

MS: I have been with From the Top for almost five years, and I can honestly say this is the most rewarding work I’ve ever been able to do! My role encompasses different areas: working closely with the Admissions, Recruitment, and Scholarship team – to develop strategy for getting the word out about the Fellowship and our financial-need-based Awards and ultimately “booking” young musicians into the Fellowship; as Music Director – working with Fellows to program repertoire they feel passionate about, and producing their music sessions in the studio; as the Executive Producer of the broadcast – channeling the extraordinary work of our production and creative team, host, and guests; and as a partner to our inimitable executive director, Gretchen Nielsen, on the leadership team for the organization as a whole.

At a FTT recording in Nashville. Pictured left to right: Amanda Roth, Megan Swan, Peter Dugan, John Escobar, and Joshua Knox. Credit: Sally Bebawny

What are the challenges to programming a radio program featuring young musicians?

MS: The biggest challenge is actually the most rewarding: NOT programming the show like I would in any other professional programming role. It would be too easy to set a theme and then assign repertoire for young musicians to learn (mostly because these young musicians are SO beyond capable!). We aim to make the programming process collaborative – so the Fellow is in conversation with us about repertoire they know they want to perform or about repertoire they are open to exploring. It truly is a giant puzzle – the Fellow offers music they are proud to have represent them, and then I work to put the programs of 5–6 Fellows together.

What are your favorite episodes?

MS: Which AREN’T my favorite episodes?! I can’t even answer that question! I’m not exaggerating when I say that every segment we produce leaves a lasting impression.  I [especially] love our programs that showcase how diverse the musicians are who are going to shape art as we know it. Shows where you THOUGHT you knew who makes classical music – but you walk away with an appreciation for how music reaches everyone from every background and location.

Read the full article and learn more about Megan here.