Alain Barker is the director of entrepreneurship and career development at the music school.
Project Jumpstart is a student leadership program led by a team of students, Barker said.
Barker said students can fall into a trap of coming to the music school and surviving well in the academic setting, but not thinking much about what they will do after they graduate.
The purpose of Project Jumpstart is to turn student musicians into functioning professionals before they leave school, Barker said. This makes the transition from being a student to becoming a professional less dramatic.
The program features a wide variety of events and activities, said Rafael Porto, Project Jumpstart team member.
Some of the major events involve guests visiting the music school, including jazz musician Wynton Marsalis and violinist Joshua Bell.
Porto said the events include Q&A sessions and luncheons with the guests. Project Jumpstart features the {Well-Advised} Lunch Series, which he said is a relaxed and conversational way for guests to present their ideas.
The program also has workshops such as “Mind & Body,” which discusses physical and mental health as they relate to music. Porto said the workshop features topics such as repetitive injury prevention, stress management, performance anxiety and dealing with rejection.
On Friday, Sept. 4, Project Jumpstart is presenting a {Well-Advised} Lunch called “Finding Success the Chicago Harp Quartet Way” featuring the Chicago Harp Quartet.
One upcoming event is “Break Away to Hollywood” on Sept. 12. This includes a panel discussion and workshops with successful alumni who work in Hollywood, Barker said.
Porto said Project Jumpstart stays active throughout the year. Last year, he said, Project Jumpstart hosted about 70 events.
Porto said the partnership between alumni and current students is exciting, especially considering many Jacobs alumni have become successful musicians.
“It would be incredible to put current students with these people and see what they have to say,” Porto said. “I think that would definitely help bridge the gap between the academic side to the professional world.”
Learning how to find possibilities outside of college is difficult, Porto said.
“The biggest challenge is that you don’t have as many opportunities coming to you if you don’t make those opportunities,” he said.
Porto compared musicians who don’t know how to transition to a professional setting to writers.
“You could be the next great writer of a bestselling book, but if you don’t know at all how to show that to people, how to market it, it’s just going to stay in the drawer,” Porto said. “You can’t move forward with it even if you have the actual skills.”
Barker said it is important for students to understand how to navigate into a musical career as the industry rapidly changes. For example, he said, it is important to know how to market and use technology to communicate, and learn how to connect with the profession in an effective way.
Project Jumpstart has become a vital part of the cultural shift within the music school, Barker said.
“What I find to be incredibly exciting is not just that we’re trying to drive cultural change within this office, but that we’re part of a general trend in the School of Music toward being more open to a much wider cultural environment than we’ve been open to in the past,” Barker said.
