Entrepreneurship Center for Music announces leadership transition
On June 30, 2025, Professor of Composition Jeffrey Nytch—who’s directed the College of Music’s Entrepreneurship Center for Music (ECM) for the past 16 years—will step down from that role. Marilyn Brock—currently ECM lecturer—will assume the roles of assistant teaching professor and interim ECM director; and Nytch—as professor of composition + entrepreneurship—will continue to teach The Entrepreneurial Artist, the Certificate in Music Entrepreneurship capstone and the college’s new Graduate Career Seminar, as well as help develop new opportunities for the composition department with the CU Boulder ATLAS Institute and Leeds School of Business.
“I’m proud of what Jeff Nytch has built,” says College of Music Dean John Davis. “The college’s Entrepreneurship Center for Music is broadly recognized, domestically and abroad, as one of the top programs of its kind.
“The center is a keystone of our college's universal musician approach to developing multiskilled, multifaceted musicians prepared for flexible career options.”
At the time of its founding by former Dean Daniel Sher in 1999, the ECM was the first program of its kind. Nytch’s subsequent appointment to lead the center was the first known tenure-track position in arts entrepreneurship.
As an early leader in developing entrepreneurship programming on our campus, Nytch helped establish the university’s New Venture Challenge and other cross-campus programs. He later developed the first arts-focused track in a collegiate entrepreneurship competition and—most recently—his work in these areas was recognized with the Frank Moyes Award, the university’s top award for entrepreneurship.
“Back when the New Venture Challenge had an Arts & Creative Industries track, teams from the College of Music made the championship round every year,” recalls Nytch, who also received the 2020 Sharon T. Alpi Award for Innovative Pedagogy, the highest award given by the Society of Arts Entrepreneurship Education. “Five times we placed in the top three—and one year we won the $100,000 championship!
“We’ve placed scores of internships and jobs in the arts sector, supported numerous student startups, and awarded nearly $30,000 in funding for student ventures and professional development. Most importantly, we’ve worked with hundreds of students—from first-year undergraduates to doctoral students—to help prepare them for careers that are financially sustainable and artistically fulfilling.”
Specifically, Nytch overhauled the College of Music’s entrepreneurship curriculum creating new courses, updating others and launching the first-ever Certificate in Music Entrepreneurship that combines coursework in music with a minor from the Leeds School of Business. He also augmented ECM offerings with workshops, an online resource center and coordination of internships; and he launched Entrepreneurial Project Grants that support student projects in entrepreneurship and professional development through cash awards of up to $1,000. In recognition thereof, the ECM was the first arts-based entrepreneurship program to be recognized for “Excellence in Specialty Programming” by the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers.
Concludes Nytch, “I look forward to continuing to be engaged with our College of Music community—teaching entrepreneurship classes and lessons in the composition department, working on commissions and other creative and research projects, and brainstorming interdisciplinary curriculum development with other units on campus.”
Related:
Nytch’s book—“The Entrepreneurial Muse: Inspiring Your Career in Classical Music”—is a seminal work in the field, adapting entrepreneurial theory and practices from the business school to a conservatory setting.