Learning About Project Management for Entrepreneurship in the Music Industry

Abstract

Kelman follows nine students aged between 15 and 17 years old across a three-year period of self-directed learning as they run their own music business, staging music festivals, running a venue, and curating a youth music conference with industry partners. Through interviews, meeting debriefs and Facebook interactions, Kelman asks what negotiating and organisational skills do students learn through an education designed to foster entrepreneurial capacity in the music industry, and how did this learning occur? The findings from this chapter highlight the positive and negative impacts that social capital had on the students’ skill development. In the first year, students were able to set and achieve goals using the school as a resource to achieve some early successes. Given more autonomy and the introduction of industry partnerships in the later part of the design, students accrued greater cultural capital and were able to participate in decision-making, learned to negotiate with industry stakeholders, and became autonomous problem-solvers, while using reflective skills to improve and refine their project management.