Today we’d like to introduce you to Derek Jackson.
Derek, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
NCEG is a 501c3 nonprofit founded by a group of students from Georgia State University in 2016. Our mission is to create a standardized process that allows students, with a passion for music, to enter the industry via a merit-based system. In short, we like to say that we’re building the NCAA of the music industry.
We started as a student organization called Panther Entertainment Group, which was formed in 2013. By 2014, we started an experiment to see if we could successfully recreate the functions of the industry by utilizing the ecosystem of a college campus. This experiment turned into a major breakthrough that allowed our student members to develop a better understanding of how the various functions of the industry work. Our members are not only artists but all of the lesser-known professionals that make or break an artists career. We train aspiring musicians, managers, writers, producers, curators, engineers, journalists, and multimedia specialists.
Now, in 2019, our program has become a permanent fixture of the new Creative Media Industries Institute at Georgia State University, and we’re gearing up to take the program to other colleges/universities.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
This entire program has been a five-year-long, trail & error experiment. We have had to effectively build a new music industry curriculum by collecting the knowledge of our industry mentors and turning it into actionable activities. However, we’ve had to do so with little funding and in a way that does not interfere with our student’s academics.
Our program focuses on teaching students the entrepreneurial side of the music industry. As such, we accept all students, regardless of their major. So our biggest struggle has become our greatest accomplishment: teaching students, who would otherwise have no reason to do so, how to think of themselves as entrepreneurs and act accordingly while maintaining the strong “team-centric” ideology that success in this industry calls for.
Please tell us about National Collegiate Entertainers Group.
The National Collegiate Entertainers Group (NCEG) is a network of music industry professionals that collectively decide what skills and roles are necessary for students to be successful in the music business.
We create protocol and design activities that allow our student members to get hands-on as they learn these skills and build their portfolio.
The greatest achievement of our program is that it allows students the opportunity to shape the entertainment ecosystem of their own campuses. They are encouraged to use their talents to be active participants of their community in a way that promotes inclusion, freedom of speech, cultural expression, and philanthropy.
This sets us apart because, traditionally, college campuses, and the business that serve them, see college students as an audience to be entertained, rather than a source of entertainment.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
…organizing my senior prom. Throughout high school, a group of friends and I were determined to become influential entertainers. We built a reputation by refusing to think of ourselves as “just students”. Freshman year, our drumline won awards. Sophomore year, we started an entertainment company to host events. Junior year, we started training our peers in dance and music production. And it all came to a head, senior year when our school administration trusted our company with the entirety of the prom budget to find a venue and book ourselves as entertainment.
Contact Info:
- Address: Collegiate Entertainers Group
Creative Media Industries Institute
25 Park Place suite 222
Atlanta, GA 30303 - Website: www.nationalceg.org
- Email: info@nationalceg.org
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/nationalceg
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/nationalceg
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/nationalceg
- Other: www.linkedin.com/company/nationalceg
Image Credit:
Nicole Benitz
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