Music with Enterprise: Our first graduates recall their experiences
In July, our first ever students with a BA Music with Enterprise were awarded their degrees. Five months later, we’ve reached out to Christopher Cox and Alicja Rutkowska to see what they are up to now and what their experience had been studying this degree.
The BA Music with Enterprise combines music and enterprise in an innovative way. Students get to choose from both fields along with some compulsory modules covering key aspects of the fields. Christopher shares: “What I think was great about this course was the ability to choose what I enjoyed best about music as well as gain an understanding of a completely different subject. This could help me find a career both within the world of business and the world of music. Music with Enterprise helps equip you with skills and knowledge within business that are not only valuable for a career in music, but within many other choices of work.”
Alicja added: “I think it's a great option for people who love music (and want to study at the amazing School of Music in Leeds) but also want to learn some valuable business skills which they can take and use anywhere. It opened my eyes to entrepreneurship and gave me a lot more options to consider after university.”
When asked how they feel being the first ones to graduate with this degree, Christopher said he is “excited and proud; it isn’t often someone gets to say they were the first!” Alicja commented that “seeing the course grow and knowing that people are interested is definitely a good feeling”.
It opened my eyes to entrepreneurship and gave me a lot more options to consider after university.
Dr Richard Tunstall with Alicja Rutkowska and Christopher Cox on their graduation day in July 2017
Both Christopher and Alicja are now doing the MA Music with Management; a joint honours postgraduate degree offered by the School of Music and Leeds University Business School.
Alicja shared that “the MA has been good so far, some things from the Music with Enterprise have been useful but it's always nice to learn new things as well and learn more about the music industry and creative industries in particular.”
Christopher is also enjoying learning more about how business works within the creative industries which was not covered during his undergraduate studies. He adds: “I’m hoping this course will provide me further advanced skills that I can apply to any working venture in the near future.”
Music with Enterprise helps equip you with skills and knowledge within business that are not only valuable for a career in music, but within many other choices of work.