NEARFIELD founder Mark Frankel has had a life-long career in the arts. Through his early exposure to live performance at his mother’s dance studio, his interest in performing, as well as the technical aspects of arts presentation, grew. Mark graduated from NYU with a degree in Music Technology and started a career as both a professional drummer and audio engineer. Meanwhile, Mark was gaining experience as an educator by teaching audio theory at NYU. Mark then took a left turn toward his original passion, performing, as a Blue Man in the show Blue Man Group, for the next 15 years. 

He had already been custom-building and installing playback systems for performing arts studios when Blue Man Group was forced to shutter its doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March of 2020. He saw that teachers were struggling to go online with their instruction: students were losing interest due to clunky tech, and instructors were left figuring out how to retain their rosters in this uncertain time. Mark knew there had to be a way to better the experience for both the teachers and the students, and thus NEARFIELD was born. 

Fun fact: Mark was an answer on Jeopardy.

Mark performing at the Hollywood Bowl. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)