Columbia’s Arts, Entertainment, and Media Management (AEMM) Department offers comprehensive preparation for managerial and entrepreneurial careers in music promotion and distribution, live entertainment and the performing arts, museums and galleries, traditional and new media, professional and collegiate sports, fashion and retail. The program offers a solid core of management classes (such as marketing, information management, managerial economics, accounting, and finance and organizational behavior), and a vast array of field-specific courses (such as music publishing and licensing, talent management, box office management, exhibition management, new media strategies, fashion show production, visual merchandising, and presenting and producing live performances). In addition, the department offers courses designed to help individual artists build independent and sustainable careers in their field of choice. Finally, the program prepares students who want to continue their studies in graduate or professional schools.
Internships are an integral part of the AEMM curriculum, bringing together theoretical concepts and administrative skills in practical on-site situations. By working with leading organizations in the Chicago area, across the country, and internationally, students have the opportunity to gain hands-on experience and make important contacts for a successful career.
The AEMM Department is the largest cultural management program in the world, with close to 1,500 students enrolled, a dense network of alumni around the planet, and a full-time and adjunct faculty of more than 150. The faculty includes practitioners and executives from major recording companies, broadcast and motion picture corporations, talent agencies, live and performing arts companies, museums, fashion retailers, and sports teams. It also includes working artists who combine their creative talents with a firm grasp of business concepts. Faculty members not only stay current with emerging trends in their fields, but also provide students with opportunities for internships and career placement, and act as student advisors, mentors, leaders, and professional role models.
Philippe Ravanas
Chairperson, Arts, Entertainment, and Media Management
Columbia College Chicago is the largest and most diverse private non-profit arts and media college in the nation with more than 120 academic programs and nearly 12,500 students. Because of our size, we offer an unparalleled array of courses with exceptional technological resources in the heart of one of America's greatest cities.
Located in downtown Chicago's vibrant South Loop neighborhood, Columbia is a non profit creative academic community that takes a practical approach to arts education. Our programs in the visual, performing, and media arts are firmly rooted in a rigorous liberal arts and sciences curriculum, which provides students with the essential context in which to practice their craft, develop their voice, and launch a sustainable career.
Columbia is an eclectic, urban community located in the city’s Education Corridor. Close by are several other colleges and universities, the Art Institute, Navy Pier, the Adler Planetarium, the Field Museum, the Chicago Symphony, the main branch of the Chicago Public Library, Lake Michigan, and the Goodman Theatre. Convenient public transportation allows Columbia’s faculty and students to use the entire city as a social, cultural, educational, and professional resource, effectively turning all of Chicago into our campus.
Just about every corner of Chicago speaks of our involvement in the community. Competitions, awards, and professional forums are sponsored by Columbia College Chicago. Current students, faculty, and alumni broadcast over the local television and radio airwaves, perform in our city venues, and publish writing available in our city bookstores. Every student at Columbia is a part of Chicago’s vibrant and inspiring urban life—as well as a critical player in the burgeoning growth of its world-class social and cultural scene.
Columbia College Chicago believes in the power of your creativity. Join our community of outstanding faculty and alumni by applying to become a fellow Columbia student today.
We pioneered the concept of developing a faculty of working professionals, believing that no one can teach better than those who have been there and done that and are still doing it. As a result, our programs stress the career outcomes of a higher education, and our staff of award-winning professionals produces alumni who, in turn, become award-winning professionals themselves.
Notable alumni working in the field of arts, entertainment, and media management follow below. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of this field, some names may be re-listed in other programs.
Len Amato
President HBO Films, Producer: Emmy Winner
Recount, Blood Diamond, Deliver Us From Eva, Analyze This
Hal Haenel
Senior Vice President, General Manager Studio Operations at 20th Century Fox
Bill Phillips
Vice President of TBS Originals, TNT Originals
Jose Pepe Vargas
Founder, Executive Director of the International Latino Cultural Center/Chicago Latino Film Festival
In 2011, nearly half of new freshmen received scholarship support from Columbia College with awards averaging $5,000–$10,000 per student. Scholarship awards were based on the student’s admission application date, high school GPA, and receipt of the student’s FAFSA. The earlier you apply, the better.
Columbia also awarded Presidential Scholarships—competitive merit-based programs based on academic achievement and demonstration of talent, ability of accomplishment in the student’s intended major.
Learn more about scholarships at Columbia College Chicago.
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August 2010
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Hip Hop Press: Epitonic.com Relaunching With Original Founders
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After seven dormant years, Epitonic.com, one of the very first online music editorial sites, is relauching with its original staff. Epitonic co-founder and Columbia Arts, Entertainment, and Media Management faculty member Justin Sinkovich will be serving as the site’s current CEO: “Our goal is pretty straightforward: To recapture the spirit of the original site by curating and filtering underground music, using new technology and features that were unfathomable when the site was originally built.”
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July 2010
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Fulbright Scholar Program
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Film & Video faculty member Maria Abraham and AEMM Columbia alum Anne Mills have been named as recipients in the latest round of the prestigious Fulbright awards. Abraham has received a Fulbright U.S. Student Program scholarship to Ecuador in Filmmaking; Mills has been awarded a Fulbright U.S. Student Program scholarship to South Korea in Art and Architectural History.
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June 2010
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Martin Atkins Interview: ThePunkSite.com
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Martin Atkins, Columbia AEMM faculty member and drummer for Ministry, Nine Inch Nails and Killing Joke, was profiled on ThePunkSite.com to talk about the ins and outs of music business: "Don’t be afraid to play to eight people with an unfinished album and a partially finished song....Go about your business and work incrementally in little steps forward."
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April 2010
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Gapers Block : Transmission : Chicago Music - Hired Education
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Gapers Block’s popular Transmission music blog shadowed the students and professionals behind our award-winning AEMMP Records label, giving us exclusive, behind-the-scenes access to the execution of the label’s SXSW 2010 events: “While one might think a music label class as a great elective to replace Business Statistics and kick your feet up, the class shows no trace of such slacker mentality.”
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February 2010
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Gapers Block : Transmission : Chicago Music - Chicago at SXSW: Showcases and an Updated Band List
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Kicking off the music festival season, our student-run record label, AEMMP Records, will be hosting a party on March 20th down at the incomparable SXSW. Label mates and Chicago bands Big Science and Pet Lions will perform.
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January 2010
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The Independent Music Awards: Nominees and Winners
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Our student-run record label AEMMP has won the prestigious IMA (Independent Music Awards) College Label Release of 2009 for its AEMMP Records Chompilation. Culled from thousands of submissions from around the globe, the winners were determined by a panel of 80 influential artists and industry pros including Tom Waits, Ricky Skaggs, Pete Wentz, Aimee Mann, DJ Spooky, Suzanne Vega, Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward.
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