HWS News
11 March 2022 New Music Administration Minor Offered
Minor combines music and entrepreneurial studies, giving students tools to build careers.
A new music administration and entrepreneurship minor offers students a unique way to pursue their passion for music while developing the skills necessary to translate that passion into a career.
Featuring courses in music and entrepreneurial studies, students will develop competencies in music through courses covering critical, historical and theoretical perspectives along with learning economic, promotional and advertising principles. The program is well suited for students who are interested in the business side of music.
The minor can help lead students to careers such as, but not limited to, an art administrator, music agent, manager, marketer or fundraiser for music and arts organizations.
Students are also able to gain real world experiences through the minor by interning with multiple local concert series, and in the greater Finger Lakes region with organizations such as the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra or the State Theatre in Ithaca.
“Students are thinking about their futures and we want to give them some concrete directions,” said Katherine Walker, chair of the Music Department and associate professor of music. “When you say you love music, we hear you and want to help you build a life and career that is secure, rich and fulfilling.”
“Our hope is that this program will empower more students to pursue their passion in music,” says Professor Tom Drennen, the chair Entrepreneurial Studies and director of the new Master of Science in Management Program, who will also chair this new minor. “We think that there are a lot more students who would like to take music classes or be involved with music, because lots of people have a passion for it, but they’re concerned with what they would do after graduation.”
Music courses will cover subjects in the history of genres, musical criticism, and the role of women and race in music, to name just a few. Entrepreneurial studies courses will cover leadership skills along with basic economic principles. A capstone built on skills learned throughout the program will have students decide on an idea for an enterprise and go through the steps of creating it to develop a viable business pitch.
Courses will be held in the Gearan Center for the Performing Arts, which features an 1,800-square-foot recital venue for choral performances and an 1,850-square-foot venue for orchestra and multiple practice spaces, and the Bozzuto Center for Entrepreneurship, located in downtown Geneva that features classrooms, conferences rooms and study spaces.
