By Dan Li
At the end of spring quarter, MSLCE students presented marketing plans for potential businesses and organizations as part of the final project for the Marketing Strategies for Creative Enterprises course, taught by Northwestern Professor Richard Kolsky.
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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…)
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…)
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…)
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…)
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…)
By Cameron Kong
Aaron Firestein, the co-founder of Bucketfeet, joined the MSCLE students in Gregg Latterman’s NUvention Arts Entrepreneurship class last week.
The story of Bucketfeet began with the serendipitous meeting of two strangers traveling through Argentina. At their parting, Aaron drew on a pair of canvas shoes which Raaja Nemani, his later business partner, wore traveling across six continents. Raaja was amazed by the magic of the conversation starter- his new shoes, during his journey, and one year later (more…)
By Zach Hyman
Northwestern alumni Garry Marshall’s storied career has included creating legendary TV shows like Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, and The Odd Couple as well as feature films such as Pretty Women and The Princess Diaries. He returned to his alma mater on May 10 to screen his new movie Mother’s Day and answer questions about how Hollywood has changed over his fifty-year career.
Marshall kicked off his talk-back by describing his early life at Northwestern – “I had to play the drums around Chicago to raise money to get through college” – and his transition from Broadway to film. (more…)
By Jacob Nelson
Last week was a busy one for Mark Hoebee. The producing artistic director of Paper Mill Playhouse flew from New York to Chicago so he could speak at the MSLCE speaker series event. But before that, he and his theatre company won a 2016 Regional Theater Tony Award.
“It’s crazy, it’s been a really emotional week,” Hoebee said with a smile as the speaker series event began last Thursday. He called winning a Tony “something you dream about,” and pointed out that when he first began working at Paper Mill the company was on the verge of going out of business. “It’s kind of mind blowing.” (more…)
Photo by Michael Johnson.
By Scotty Stieber
Last week, a group of School of Communication students took part in an EPICS Leadership Journey to 360i’s downtown Chicago office.
Amanda Abar, the Executive Vice President of 360i Chicago, led the discussion about her current role and the many steps she has taken to get to where she is today. The digital marketing agency is based in New York with six additional offices, from São Paulo to London. On top of the company’s diverse catalog of clients, like Coca-Cola, HBO, Oreo and Toyota, 360i has proudly been named to AdAge‘s “Agency A-List” for four straight years – no easy feat in an increasingly saturated industry. (more…)
