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MSLCE Professor Building an App to Give and Get Feedback

Today, we continue our feature where we ask an MSLCE professor three questions about the creative field they work in. Below is a conversation with Gail BergerAssistant Professor of Instruction at Kellogg, McCormick, and the School of Education and Social Policy, about building apps, giving and getting feedback, and becoming an effective team leader.

Can you briefly describe the app you’re developing, and who you think will find it most useful?

The app that I am developing, iEvolve360, is a tool that will help people easily provide and obtain feedback from each other. It is useful for anyone who is looking to grow and improve and can be used in academic and corporate contexts. By making it simple and straightforward to give and request feedback on a regular basis, teams and companies can create a “culture of feedback.” In other words, the stigma and fear often associated with constructive feedback will be removed, and instead people will truly view feedback as an opportunity to grow and develop. (more…)

Globalization Course Gets Students Thinking About Emerging Cultural Hubs

By Scotty Stieber

When discussing globalization, often the idea of cultures crossing borders and oceans comes to mind. Claudio Benzecry’s “Culture and Globalization” course took that basic framework and extended it far beyond traditional modes of thinking to discuss how to globalize the creative class. How are cities, both large and small, changing as a result of globalization? How are those changes implemented and then packaged by tourism bureaus and commercial developers to attract young creative minds to emerging neighborhoods, cities and regions? (more…)

The Art and Science of the Pitch

By Laura Hess

“Who were you, before you were told who you are?”

Our fellow MSLCE classmate looked up at us and then back down at the little reed of paper. “Who were you, before you were told who you are,” she repeated quietly. Silence.

This was our first class together in Laverne McKinnon’s “Pitching Creative Projects” course. (more…)

Leadership and Teamwork class ends with each students’ personal ‘Vision of Leadership’

By Zach Hyman

The MSLCE program came to a close for the year on June 6th with the final Leadership and Teamwork class, an elective taught by Kellogg professor Gail Berger. In honor of the occasion, every student had the opportunity to present their “vision of leadership.” The results perfectly reflected the unique road we’ve traveled this year with MSLCE. (more…)

Integrated Marketing: Melissa Wasserman meets with MSLCE Students

By Laura Hess

“One show does not a brand make.”

So said Melissa Wasserman, SVP of Client Solutions and Integrated Marketing at AMC Networks, as she recently met with students in Professor Rick Kolsky’s Marketing Strategies in Creative Industries course.

The class discussed AMC’s acute pivot from American Movie Classics with no original programming, to a rebranded AMC and the release of Mad Men and Breaking Bad in 2007 and 2008. Now, the network has 17 original series, including The Walking Dead, the most-watched scripted program in basic cable history. (more…)

Northwestern Professor Speaks to Students About Effecting Change Through Art

By John Matthew Simon

Effecting change through art can be difficult if the society you come from suppresses the voices of those who come to question the practices of these oppressive regimes.

Many individuals think of Turkey as an open democracy, the first of its kind in the Middle East outside of Israel, and the bridge between Europe and that region, through culture and history. Ozge Samanci, an assistant professor in Northwestern’s School of Communication, grew up in Turkey and came of age in a vibrant culture that was struggling as a society, dealing with the growing pains of democracy, which butted heads with the norms of an Islamic society. (more…)

Northwestern Professor Leads Workshop on Nonprofit Management

By Benjamin Levine

Last week, the MSLCE cohort did a workshop with Northwestern professor Michelle Shumate, an expert on nonprofit management.

Learning about nonprofits is crucial for students interested in the creative fields because so much important work happens in this space. As Shumate informed us, nonprofit organizations (NPOs) account for 10% of the US workforce and have seen growth in their employment numbers over the past few years. This kind of growth highlights the significance of these organizations and makes it all the more critical to understand them if one hopes to be a leader in the creative enterprises. (more…)

Film, TV, and Theater Writers Talk Storytelling at Northwestern

By Dan Li

A group of people that included a Steppenwolf producer, a film producer, a writer for House of Cards, and a playwright met at Northwestern last Friday to discuss their writing processes during the 2016 Writers Panel co-hosted by the EPICS Office and the MFA in Writing for the Screen and Stage program. (more…)