Business Skills for Creatives

Launch Your Mini Media Empire. Step into the spotlight and lead a live event or digital media project from idea to impact. With a team of peers and expert guidance, you’ll gain hands-on experience in every stage of the business—building your resume and launching your career.
Students interacting with alum in music studio
What to Expect
Interact with alumni and industry partners from a range of media. Master and put theories into practice, all in a supportive, creative environment.

Who Is Our MBA in Entertainment and Media Management Program for?

We start at square one—yes, even with “What is an asset?” Whether you're coming from an arts, media, or other creative background, this program is designed to meet you where you are and take you where you want to go.
9
Months

To fast-track your future and earn your MBA

36
Credits

Include entrepreneurship, law, management, negotiation, leadership, marketing, economics and accounting, and organizational structure

Program Highlights

Create Your Path
Build on your passion for music, cinema, performance, and writing with business credentials that equip you to move up in your field, switch careers, or excel as an entrepreneur. You’ll join fellow students from a variety of academic and creative backgrounds, from business and sound recording to communications and journalism.

Fast-tracked and Career-focused
In just 9 months, you can earn IC’s MBA in Entertainment and Media Management—a degree of the same caliber and with the same professional opportunities as similar two-year programs. Studying from August to May, you’ll learn about all aspects of the entertainment and media business, including laws, management, negotiation, leadership, marketing, economics, accounting, and organizational structure. The fast-tracked, career-focused program model ensures that you’ll spend minimal time away from the workforce.

Hands-on Learning Opportunities
Here, you’ll learn by doing: for IC’s own South Hill Entertainment, a production company founded by prior MBA students, you’ll brainstorm concepts, plan pre-production, source partners, produce and distribute content, and manage marketing for audio, video, and live events. You’ll collaborate and network with industry professionals through small group connections, industry conferences, premieres, live events, and more.

This cross-disciplinary program brings the strengths of IC’s School of Business together with media insights from the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance and the Roy H. Park School of Communications.

Collage of MBA student activities, such as marketing, podcasting, and filmmaking
Applications are open!

Apply by March 1 for scholarship consideration or May 1, the regular application deadline.

I'm Ready to Apply

Curriculum

Whether you're a filmmaker, designer, performer, or content creator, this MBA program equips you with the business backbone to thrive in the entertainment and media world. Through immersive courses like Production Concept Planning, Management & Practice, and Production & Market Release, you’ll learn how to take a creative concept from idea to market.

Our entertainment-focused MBA wraps essential business skills—like accounting, analytics, negotiation, and leadership—around your creative talents. With three hands-on practicums and a curriculum tailored for today’s multimedia landscape, you won’t just study business. You’ll do business.

Build real-world experience. Launch your own media venture. Graduate in one year ready to lead, innovate, and transform the industry.

Careers

Your professional prospects are broad with IC’s unique MBA: sports and entertainment management, audio and visual media production, finance and law for entertainment and media businesses, marketing and public relations, and much more. After just 9 months of study, you can pursue entertainment and media jobs like:

  • Digital marketer
  • Event manager
  • Location manager
  • Market and media researcher
  • Music producer
  • Public relations officer
  • Social media manager
  • Television/film/video producer
  • Television production coordinator

Occupations in this field, particularly those related to entertainment and sports, are rapidly growing: the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 22% job growth in these industries from 2020 to 2030, a rate significantly faster than the average across all occupations. An MBA in Entertainment and Media Management sets you apart in a competitive industry where the strongest entrants—like you—will have opportunities to lead and thrive.

Interested in Learning More About the M.B.A. in in Entertainment and Media Management?

If you would like more information on applying to the M.B.A. in in Entertainment and Media Management program or if you would like to be notified when graduate applications open this fall, please complete our graduate interest form. 

Featured News

Photos of Rachel Rosenberg ’21 MBA ’22 and Paris Buckner MBA ’22
Creating Opportunities
Graduate students assist with the running of FLEFF.
Conductor in front of an orchestra, and a student in front of a computer
When Music, Media, and Management Merge
Three schools collaborate on production of a live music performance.

Contact Us

Margaret B. Shackell, Ph.D., CMA, CPA, CA
Associate Professor, Director Graduate Business Programs
3rd Floor, Park Center for Sustainable Enterprise
953 Danby Rd.
Ithaca, NY 14850

(link is a phone number) 607-274-1314