Are you a self-starter? Are you a forward-thinking leader? Do you have a deep intellectual curiosity? Do you thrive on collaboration?
At the Clive Davis Institute [CDI], we develop Music Industry Professionals — as record company executives, artist managers, and booking agents; producers and engineers; songwriters and performers; journalists and publicists; start-up tech founders and creators of socially-minded non-profit organizations. But very often in today’s music industry, our students and graduates work as more than one of the above.
What all these callings require is an open mind and an entrepreneurial spirit, and that is what we both look for and cultivate at the Clive Davis Institute through a rigorous six-point curriculum of (1) business & technology, (2) writing, history, & emergent media, (3) production, (4) musicianship & performance, (5) global study, and (6) liberal arts. At CDI, every student will learn to create compelling recordings in the studio. Every student will study history and practice powerful writing. Every student will learn the business and plan a business project. Every student will study music theory and songwriting. Every student will study abroad, either in our Clive Davis Institute x Berlin program or another approved NYU site. And every student will take courses in the social and natural sciences and humanities. Our graduates have not only refined their talents, but have expanded their abilities, who are curious and well-studied, self-motivated and tenacious, collaborative and flexible. Our goal is to graduate creative music entrepreneurs who will have a sustainable career in the music industry.
Creative Portfolio Submission
All applicants to the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music must submit a creative portfolio in Slideroom. However, depending on your level (i.e. high school student, current college student, etc.), please see below what additional components you must complete for NYU.
You must clearly label and upload the following Creative Portfolio components to Slideroom:
In preparing your creative portfolio, please note that you do not necessarily need to have experience in the music industry, nor do you need to have access to resources, to demonstrate your vision, creativity and intellectual curiosity, and your potential for success in the music industry.
Deadlines
The Clive Davis Institute Slideroom application becomes available for Fall 2022 applicants on September 1. Once the application is live, you are invited to register and upload your Creative Portfolio until the deadline. Once you’ve registered, you may step away and come back at any time until the final deadline. Once you click submit, you may no longer edit your creative portfolio.
Please note that for artistic programs such as those at Tisch, NYU requests that you submit your Common Application one month before the deadline. While we do not recommend waiting till the last minute, there is no penalty to your application so long as you submit your materials before the deadlines below.
IMPORTANT: All Slideroom Creative Portfolios must be submitted by the deadlines below (per your applicant pool). If you submitted your Common App by the specified deadline but did not submit a Slideroom Creative Portfolio by that same deadline, we cannot accept late Slideroom applications.
- Early Decision I - due November 1
- Early Decision II - due January 1
- Regular Decision - due January 5
- Internal Transfer - due March 1
- External Transfer - due April 1
"Our students have boundless amounts of musical creativity, business acumen and are technologically savvy. In recruiting students for the Clive Davis Institute, we look for applicants who are driven, passionate, forward-thinking, self-motivated and well-rounded. Like the great music moguls past and present, our students must have a strong sense of self and a creative ability to imagine how they might one day transform the music industry for the better."
– Jason King, Chair