Mary Schmidt Campbell, dean of the Tisch School of the Arts (TSOA) at New York University, has announced that record executive, NYU alumnus, and TSOA Dean’s Council member Clive Davis is giving $5 million more to the School for the expansion of the Department of Recorded Music into the Clive Davis Institute for Recorded Music.
Funds Provide for Creation of Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music
Innovative Support Allows for Expanded Programs to Reach More Talented High School Students, Scholarships, and Additional Faculty
Mary Schmidt Campbell, dean of the Tisch School of the Arts (TSOA) at New York University, has announced that record executive, NYU alumnus, and TSOA Dean’s Council member Clive Davis is giving $5 million more to the School for the expansion of the Department of Recorded Music into the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music. The additional support and elevation in status will make it possible to recruit additional stellar working professionals as faculty, establish a generous scholarship fund, and support programs to recruit the best and the brightest young talent from around the world, thus securing the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music recognition as a global leader in producing talent for the music industry.
“Over the course of more than 40 years in the music industry, Clive Davis has changed the business of contemporary recorded music with his inspired leadership and knack for spotting and developing new musical talent,” said Dean Campbell. “He brought that same innovative approach to NYU eight years ago with his first gift that enabled us to create the Department of Recorded Music. This innovative thinking has resulted in contemporary recorded music becoming a new domain of knowledge which has had a lasting impact on the consideration of sound recording as an art form.
NYU President John Sexton said, “Clive Davis has always had an eye – and an ear – for the exceptional; his record of achievement in the music industry is a testament to the keenness of his instincts and intellect. So, when a person of his discernment chooses to support the Recorded Music program at the Tisch School of the Arts not once but twice, it is an extraordinary validation of what we are doing here at NYU. We are very grateful for his generosity, and his belief in us.”
Clive Davis said: “I owe the wonderful fulfillment I’ve enjoyed from my career to my New York education and my lifetime in music. With this second gift to NYU, I reaffirm all the tremendous progress made by the Department in my name at Tisch and I’m thrilled now to expand its operations into an Institute that will educate and develop the best new talent for the music industry.”
With expanded resources and by encouraging innovation at all levels, the Clive Davis Institute will assume a highly visible global leadership role in the future of recorded music. The creation of the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music will make it possible to expand the size of the incoming freshman class, to add more faculty positions, and to offer more scholarship aid to deserving students. It will also enable the School to create two new pipeline programs for the recruitment of talented high school students: Future Music Moguls will be a free program for high school students in the metropolitan New York City area offered spring semester; and the Summer High School Program in Recorded Music open to talented students everywhere.
“His renewed commitment to the Tisch School with this gift represents transformative support that will enable us to create the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music enhancing the scale and breadth of the current program,” added Dean Campbell. “With the elevation to Institute, we will be able to launch programs to reach more high school students, establish a robust fund of scholarships, and support the program's dynamic leadership and faculty, among other initiatives. For this we are very grateful to Mr. Davis and we remain deeply indebted to him as a partner in this ongoing initiative.”
Clive Davis graduated Phi Beta Kappa from NYU with a B.A. magna cum laude in 1953 and from Harvard Law School in 1956. Successively head of Columbia Records, Arista, J Records, BMG U.S. Label Group, and most recently Chief Creative Officer of Sony BMG, Davis has signed and nurtured such performers as Janis Joplin; Blood, Sweat and Tears; Santana; Billy Joel; Bruce Springsteen; Aerosmith; Whitney Houston; Patti Smith; Alicia Keys; and Jennifer Hudson, among many others. He has been Producer or Executive Producer of nearly 60 albums as well as numerous singles, and has won four Grammy Awards as producer of a “Best R&B Album,” “Best Pop Vocal Album,” “Album of the Year” and “Best Rock Album” over the course of his career. The Recording Academy also twice formally recognized Davis by bestowing upon him the highly coveted Trustees Award in 2000 and the President’s Merit Award in 2009, and he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001.
When it opened its doors in 2003, the Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music was the first of its kind to provide professional business and artistic training toward a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. The undergraduate curriculum is designed to provide professional training for students who aspire to succeed as creative entrepreneurs in the music industry. Very quickly, the program has established itself as a leader in training aspiring music entrepreneurs. It has been on the cutting edge of music education, offering innovative courses like “The History of Def Jam,” “Emerging Music Trends,” and “Branding.” The program bears the name of its chief patron and advisor, Clive Davis.