Tisch School of the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts
Social Entrepreneurship & Sustainable Development:
"Social entrepreneurs play the role of change agents in the social sector, by adopting a mission to create and sustain social value (not just private value), recognizing and relentlessly pursuing new opportunities to serve that mission, engaging in a process of continuous innovation, adaptation, and learning, acting boldly without being limited by resources currently in hand, and exhibiting heightened accountability to the constituencies served and for the outcomes created." (Honoring the late Greg Dees dubbed the father of social entrepreneurship education) What is the way that societies improve and solve problems? What is the purpose of business in society? Is there a role for markets and business in issues of civic good, justice, equality, education, environment, health or collective action? Current economic principles, which underpin our trust in markets are not value neutral. Therefore, how we design “market solutions” to problems should be the focus of vigorous and open debate. Social entrepreneurship is a concept that has re-focused us on the meaning of the goods and social practices we value as citizens in a global society. The purpose of this course is to provide students with the essential conceptual frameworks and tools for creating successful social entrepreneurial ventures, initiatives, programs or partnerships that seek to tackle global poverty and collective action problems. Social Entrepreneurship, loosely defined as entrepreneurial activities with an embedded social purpose, is about using entrepreneurial skills to craft innovative responses to address social problems. It aims at social impact, but does not exclude economic wealth creation. Thus, it is not limited to the non-profit or social sectors but seeks to mobilize and align interests of diverse stakeholders in the social, public and private sectors by creating non-financial incentives for collective action. Social Entrepreneurship involves recognizing that social problems are potential opportunities for collaboration, building on existing social networks, harnessing market forces that combine and mobilize resources, inciting positive change in various domains, and designing solutions for sustainable development. Social enterprise, an organizational subset of social entrepreneurship, is a hybrid model for social value creation that is multidimensional and dynamic, moving across various intersection points in the society. A social enterprise is created to achieve a stated vision and mission aiming to solve a state or market failure, where success is measured by both financial sustainability and social impact. Social entrepreneurship and social enterprise represent a paradigm shift in our thinking about sustainable economic development, one that is beginning to have a profound impact on how products are designed and services delivered to poor and marginalized populations at home and abroad. The course will cover a broad range of cutting-edge social enterprise and social entrepreneurship strategies from around the world. Students will interact with guest social entrepreneurs, policy makers, thought leaders and investors to ensure they gain a comprehensive understanding of this dynamic field, and challenge themselves as agents of social change working in development. Through individual and group exercises, using case studies and mixed media, students will explore the common strategies and pitfalls in creating community-driven, scalable social ventures. Students will collaborate and share their learning in the classroom and online using a new social platform, L2O, within a closed community for this course and an open community on social innovation. The course looks at social entrepreneurship and social ventures through their entire life cycle – from ideation, through start-up to scaling and exit to policy-making – with an emphasis on how market considerations and financial instruments are critical to achieving social and financial goals. The materials we will cover place a strong emphasis on the need for a deeper understanding of the range of human motivations, moving from material self-interest to altruism and gift to duty and obligation to strong reciprocity and cooperation. Students will complete a team project, either their own venture or a project for a social enterprise client, over the term of the course. They will receive constant constructive feedback from their peers and instructor throughout the semester in the classroom and on L2O.
Tisch School of the Arts
TCHL-UE 1153 Creative Curriculum: Entrepreneurship and Fundraising (Offered Spring '23):
What is the value of an idea? How do we frame ideas to convince others of their value? Students explore methods of fundraising for educational projects, including grant writing, crowdfunding, and community engagement; analyze successful grant proposals, Kickstarter campaigns and events; and discover ways technology has enhanced small-scale fundraising. Students craft their own fundraising pitch around a new creative product, project or need. This course offers a fun and engaging way to gain experience in educational fundraising—a crucial skill for any future educator.
Tisch School of the Arts
REMU-UT 1401 Developing a Business Pitch For Your Music Venture (Offered Fall '23):
The mission of the Professional Development Program is to provide professional development training, mentorship and relevant learning experiences for Recorded Music students in their senior year, to prepare them for independent careers as musicians, performers and founders, and to assist them in their pursuit and competition for jobs and leadership roles in the music industry. The PDP curriculum is organized around every student’s creation of a customized music business venture which, defined broadly, could be a start-up, live music event, career launch as a performer or songwriter, or job search. PDP is execution-focused and is meant to publicly convey each student’s personal/intellectual and artistic journey and who they are as an artist/entrepreneur/person at this stage of their career. The focus is on the acquisition of professional skills such as written and verbal communication, personal branding -online, in-person and through communications, and making a powerful first impression, as well as the creation of an e-portfolio website that will enable the student to stand out and more quickly land career -enhancing opportunities and jobs.
Tisch School of the Arts
REMU-UT 1202: How the Contemporary Music Business Works:
A broad overview and practical analysis of the music industry, covering a broad spectrum of business areas, including streaming, distribution, licensing/synch publishing, live performance, rad io, marketing, copyright and related fields. This course will also explore emerging technologies accelerating rapid changes and the challenges and opportunities students will face when entering the marketplace. Students will examine different music industry roles and career paths, and the knowledge, skills, and experiences they will need to gain a competitive edge. Students will be introduced to the course topics via readings, lectures, interviews and other media-rich content delivered asynchronously in advance which will allow every class to focus on productive discussions and activities related to business concepts. Face-to-face class meetings will be complemented with smaller group breakouts guided by industry professionals serving as professional mentors. There, students will have the opportunity to grapple with, workshop, and apply business concepts and ideas to advance their own music projects.
Tisch School of the Arts
REMU-UT 1225 Leadership in the Music Industry:
The intention of this course is to expand students’ knowledge about leadership and their leadership skills in preparation for their assumption of music industry leadership roles. It is geared to all students who aspire to lead, whether as musician, performer, critic, fan, influencer, entrepreneur or within an organizational context. This course focuses on the skills and competencies necessary for effective leadership and how they can be developed and applied to the pursuit of students’ personal and professional goals in music.
Tisch School of the Arts
REMU-UT 1261 Artist Management Lab:
Artist managers are the central focus of the music business, the dealmakers behind the latest industry developments, and the brokers of power, influence, and revenue streams for not only recording artists, but creative entrepreneurs and technology startups as well. The role of the artist manager is to help creative talent find commercial success. We will study the basics and fundamentals of artist management, and its many different functions.
Tisch School of the Arts
REMU-UT 1217 The Business of Music: Creative Marketing Strategies:
This course introduces music marketing concepts, principles and approaches that musicians, songwriters, record producers, executives and music companies use to optimize their visibility, analyze, target and sell directly to customers and fans. Traditional and nontraditional marketing approaches for retail, distribution, radio, touring and publicity will be examined with an emphasis placed on online tools and strategies, including website and mobile optimization, smartphone and desktop apps, seo, crowdsourcing, live streaming and crowd funding, and their applications.
Tisch School of the Arts
TCHL-UE 1151 Crafting Creative Curriculum: Space, Time and Classroom:
This course is designed for students interested in learning about using creativity, entrepreneurship, and future studies in formal and informal educational settings. Special topics courses both explore technological progress and notions of futurism to better prepare students for a fast-paced world, and offer opportunities for students to create tangible and useful educational material and to exercise their creativity and entrepreneurial muscles in educationally significant ways.
Tisch School of the Arts
REMU-UT 1241 Music Licensing Lab:
Music supervision and music licensing are two of the hottest topics in the music business. This class will introduce you to the creative, financial, legal, and technical sides of music supervision as well as teach you the nuts and bolts of music clearance and licensing. We will look at the many different facets of a music supervisor’s job, and the services they provide for all types of media projects, including film, television, advertising, video games, online/apps, and more. If you aspire to have a career as a music supervisor, licensor, publisher, artist, songwriter, composer, producer, and/or creative entrepreneur, this course is for you.
Tisch School of the Arts
REMU-UT 1226 Funding Your Music Venture:
How am I going to fund my project? What are the funding sources available to me? What type of funding works best for my music venture idea? These are among the range of challenges that every creative entrepreneur faces when planning the start up of a new music venture. The good news is that there is money out there and there are more opportunities than ever for music entrepreneurs to fund their start up music ventures. Having the ability to find and leverage funding opportunities is a skill that every music entrepreneur must have to succeed. This class proposes to demystify the funding process and provides an overview of the main sources of music business funding: Grants, Investments, Crowdfunding, Friends & Family, and Bootstrapping among others.