Expand your opportunities

You’re ready to enter the profession and lead. Perhaps you’re on the cusp of graduation, and looking for the skills and experience to bring to your first job. Maybe you’re looking to start your freelance career while finishing a graduate degree. The time is now to gain the tools and network to launch your career, and make a difference in your world through music.

Are you ready?

What it is.

A weeklong, fully-online summer program that allows the emerging professional to collaborate with similarly passionate and dedicated musicians from around the country. Each day you’ll dive into keynote lectures, workshops, and case studies dedicated to a specific topic: creating a non-profit, finance & fundraising, community engagement, building your network, and leadership. Along the way, you’ll get hands on experience developing practical and concrete tools you’ll need to be a future leader. All your work culminates in a final entrepreneurial pitch to Academy faculty.

Screenshot of Melissa Ngan’s workshop from the 2021 Leadership Academy.

Who it’s for.

This intimate and intensive experience is capped at 25 students and is right for you if you are a junior, senior, or graduate student enrolled in a collegiate music program. You’re someone who’s driven to make change, hungry to be a leader, passionate about community, and committed to learning the skills needed to tackle the challenges facing the world of music today. You are the future of the industry.

What you gain. 

Accepted students will work with world-class musicians, educators, and leaders in learning activities, case studies, and workshops designed to be immersive, interactive, and participatory. And, if accepted, your tuition is 100% covered by a generous sponsorship from Yamaha.

Academy Faculty

Rachel Roberts
Director,
Institute for Music Leadership
Associate Professor,
Music Leadership
Eastman School of Music

Monique Van Willingh
Director of Cultural Equity and Belonging
New England Conservatory

Sarah Forestieri
Artistic Programming Associate
City of Brampton, ON

Jeff Dunn
Program Manager
Institute for Music Leadership
Eastman School of Music

Academy Schedule

2024 Eastman Leadership Academy

The Academy runs between 10 AM and 5 PM Eastern time, Monday through Friday.

Sample Daily Schedule

10:00 AM
10:30 AM
12:00 PM
1:30 PM
2:15 PM
3:00 PM
3:30 PM

Online Social and Welcomes
Keynote Address
Lunch and Conversation
Case Study
Workshop
Daily Reflections
Individual Advising by Appointment

Take the Next Step

More questions?

Email IML Program Manager Jeff Dunn