I Am Home: Alicia Pyle

HOME LIVING | I Am Home HOMEI am

: Alicia Pyle

By: Lindsey Sharp | Photos provided

Alicia Pyle: musician, educator, entrepreneur, advocate for the arts community, and lover of northeast Indiana and Fort Wayne — are just a few of the wonderful and notable roles she plays in our region.

Alicia calls northeast Indiana—specifically Fort Wayne—home.

“I’m a native to northeast Indiana, but we’ve been in Fort Wayne since I was a young child,” Alicia said. “My paternal grandfather had a large international car-stereo manufacturing company, which kept my family in Huntington, Indiana, for many years. Our lineage on my paternal grandmother’s side traces way back to Chief La Fontaine, who oversaw the split into the Western and Eastern Miami Indian tribes in the area. It’s weird to me that some call this flyover-country, because I think that it’s an amazing place to call home.”

What’s more, Alicia chose to plant roots in the region when she grew up. She studied at the Purdue Fort Wayne School of Music while paying her way through school by teaching piano lessons every day after class; the draw of being near family encouraged her stay here, too.

She is a professional musician who performs nearly weekly with her band, Alicia Pyle & the Locals; she owns and operates a small business, PyleStyle Events, with her husband—which works with over 200 local musicians and bands to book live music for local events and venues; and she educates at a music studio she manages, PyleStyle Academy.

“I had many great head starts in life, though, because I was extremely blessed to find my passion and success in northeast Indiana during my high school years,” she said. “I was a very dedicated student of classical music for a decade before college, had many wonderful opportunities including performing solo with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, and I began teaching lessons (which is now my full-time vocation) 20 years ago at the age of 15. It’s surreal that the time has gone by this quickly–everything has always just fit into place along my path here, and I’m grateful for every single one of the learning opportunities I’ve had in this region both positive and negative.”

The region loves Alicia right back, too. She said the region and city has always been extremely supportive of her, her band, and all she does in the arts community. “I believe that the more our region develops, the more it can afford to support live music and the arts. More businesses are opening, more people are moving here, and more people are thriving,” she said. “I’ll credit the city for creating such a wonderful environment (and economy) for us to flourish in, I’ll credit Arts United of Greater Fort Wayne because they make huge strides every year to support the arts locally and explain and showcase the value that we bring, and I’ll credit the artists themselves because they are all so fantastic.”

“Similar to myself, most of the local artists and musicians educate as well … so it’s like this cyclical fruit-bearing process every generation,” shes aid. “There will always be the next round of children, students, and artists waiting to grow and bloom because we’re constantly investing in them as teachers, professors, and artists ourselves. I know that I personally take every chance that I can to sow into my students with my network and small business opportunities, and I’m not the only artistic educator or business owner to do this. It’s a great place, and we all actually care here [in the region.]”