ACADEMIC CANVAS

my plan in Media Studies by

tomas uribe
www.tomasuribemedia.com

My experience as a Media Studies graduate student begins with a small brieng to the reader about my background as a musician. I am a composer and producer from Colombia, where I learned to play multiple instruments, including the one you see above this page, the bass, which became my object of identity. I started out playing guitar, and afterwards I began to sing. Later on, with the daily input of information and music literature I had while studying my undergraduate, I fell in love with composition and lm scoring. Music composition allows an individual to express the intangible elements that s/he can perceive from within, and use them as a medium to further enhance a particular art form or simply a song or tune. Any source of stimuli, can serve the purpose for breaking any parameters and innovating a creative object. Having previous knowledge of the academic foundations of styles and knowing what already has been done in the past, serves well in order to be creative and push ones boundaries as an artist. Later on, I started to develop a deep interest in the visual arts. Movies and photography have profound relationships with music, since they portray a whole different meaning when intersected by sound or music. From the time I was at school (at the university in Bogota), I began to encounter different artists that began to work with me. I composed music for lm, TV commercials and photography exhibitions. Additional to the fact that for the last 6 years, Ive been part of a rock band named Soundacity. This is truly important for my music career because in this environment I was able to learn about the relation between the human element and the arts.

Due to the multiple activies I was commiting myself to, I knew that it was time to search for an academic environment that would serve as a way to fulll my objectives as an integral artist. I was certain that I did not want to be categorized solely as a musician or instrumentist. I felt that my creative ideas were being boxed due to the lack of knowledge of advanced tools for integrating the various disciplines I was interested in. In the summer of 2010, while in Norway, I came across the program in Media Studies offered by The New School. I began my search thanks to the recommendations of a Colombian friend living at that time in Sweden, who studied Digital Media in that country. I knew that my searching parameters were going to be very wide, knowing that I wanted to study a very broad subject. When searching for a masters degree, it is usually easier to look for specic elds of study, where the focus is more determined and a study program is already pre-arranged. When I found The New School, I knew that this was the most assertive option to achieve my ideals. The fact that it was based in New York was a truly big incentive, knowing it was the perfect creative context I wanted to study and live in. The program in Media Studies seemed at rst a bit confusing. One of the biggest attractions of the program is the balance between theory and practice. Although I was coming from a school where this was also encountered, I wasnt sure of how other media, aside from music, were going to be approached from both perspectives. During the rst weeks of January 2012, I received and email from The New School, inviting me to an open house that was going to be held on campus. It was an easy ight to arrange, since I was spending some time with my family in Miami. I arrived to New York with high expectations and curiosity of what I was going to encounter in a U.S. university. Professors Shannon Mattern, Barry Salmon, Rafael Parra, Deanna Kamiel, and Christiane Paul were the panelists on that occasion. All my doubts were solved and I got even more interested in the interdisciplinary curriculum that was offered. The program would allow me to keep on improving in my musical career, while learning more about other disciplines and media.

Media||Music||Creativity

Starting Point
Before arriving to New York, I thoughtfully organized the courses I was going to take, considering another important fact that also inuenced my decision of attending The New School. This fact is related to the several elds of focus a student can pursue while in the Media Studies program. Normally, I would have chosen the Sound Studies focus, due to my musical background. But I knew that my main objective was to learn about other media-related topics and continue my desire of complementing all of the areas I am interested in. The focus in Media Management was very attractive also taking into account that Ive never had any courses on business or management before. Therefore, I chose this focus mainly because of the useful tools and knowledge one can obtain from the offered courses and media environment in which they are taught in.

The Temperament of Space

www.i-m.co/cturibe/temperament

Additionally, I was lucky enough to have started out working in two different job environments. This is also related to the fact that I needed another source of income in order to nancially sustain myself in New York. Being an international student, I am only allowed to work 20 hours a week on-campus and 40 hours a week while on break. Taking this into account, I applied for a student worker position at International Student Services (where I believe I will keep on working until I nish my program). The second job is a Research Assitant position with Associate Professor Diane Mitchell. I am particularly fond of this project since it has allowed me to mix my artistic passion, music, with other media forms. The multimedia project is called The Temperament of Space, where our relationship to space is addressed, not only as represented by four walls but space as required by ones mind to hold thoughts in the midst of distraction, to assemble meaning from fragments, to construct what one remembers. Sound, as an inevitable factor in space, will also be considered as an environment, since it is the intangible art form that surrounds our living spaces. (The website and music for the project was created by myself. Please visit through the link provided on the left).

Part of my objective within the media management eld is to obtain the Certificate in Media Management. After a meeting with the Director of the Graduate Certicate in Media Management, Paul Hardart, he suggested that I take his Media Management and Leadership course to get more insights on the eld in order to decide if I wanted to pursue the Certicate or not. Some of the courses I am interested in are explored in the diagram of my academic plan.

Understanding Media Studies

Starting out in the program, I decided to take three of the required courses and one seminar course. Understanding Media Studies with Dawnja Burris turned out to be very enriching. Gaining insights on media scholarship and getting to know what fellow media creators were working on was very interesting and has given me several ideas for future projects. I had the chance to meet other faculty members and obtain valuable resources for my workgroup and focus area (media management). My workgroup presentation depicted various Kickstarter elements and the digital strategies that are used in succesful campaigns, by analyzing different case-studies and showing our very own mock-up Kickstarter campaign.

1st Semester
Spring 2013 12 credits

Media Studies: Ideas

A truly wonderful class that opened a whole new door to academic and media theory. This course, led by Paolo Carpignano, had a very good organization in terms of the topics it analyzed and how they could be applied to our specic area of interest. Again, through this course, I could explore an important area I am very interested in which is philosophy and theory. In my undergraduate, we analyzed multiple works by composers and musicians, taking into account the chronological stem that unied music theory. This type of analysis was very related to what I read in this course. Readings from authors such as Marshall McLuhan, Theodor Adorno, Gilles Deleuze, Walter Benjamin, and Jean Baudrillard, among others, gave me a thorough understanding of the relation among mediums and media, making me wonder about what others thought of music in relation to visual media and text.

Media Practices: Concepts

As I mentioned earlier, one of my major interests are the visual arts and how they relate to music. Artistically speaking, most of my work has been done empirically, and this is why I chose to take this course with Ramu Dhara. Ive learned many tools and software that I can incorporate with my musical works, such as illustrations, animations, video editing, photo editing and further understanding the visual concepts for composition and lighting. Thanks to this course, I am more interested in video editing software which I will learn about in depth later with other courses, and creating video and illustrations for music. (In fact, I created this template thanks to the tools I learned in this course!!)

Electronic Media & Live Performance

One of my major concerns was if I was going to be able to maintain my performance frecuency I had with my band while studying in New York. Therefore, I decided to take this class to keep myself informed about the most recent advances in performance art, technologic and electronic media, and social media. Many of the reviews and readings analyzed in class served to open my creative spectrum in terms of performance ideas. Brian McCormick, the class instructor and former Media Studies student, gave me valuable information and tips on live performances and venues in New York City.

2nd Semester
Media Management & Leadership*

Fall 2013 - 9 credits

This course will be the rst one I will take in pursuit of the Certicate in Media Management. It will strengthen my skills in producing media and managing it.

Participatory Research & Social Inquiry Media Practices: Time-Based for Documentary

After attending a UMS session where Nitin Sawhney described his courses and other projects, I got truly interested in DIY culture. It is a methods course, which is also a requirement. Following my interests in audiovisual arts and media that complements music, I decided to learn more on video editing software and documentary making in order to become a more integral media creator. One of the projects I am working on is about migration and Colombian culture in NY. With guidance of Media Studies Professor Sumita Chakravarty and the course instructor, I will be editing this project throughout this course.

3rd Semester
Music Business* Projects in Interactive Design

Spring 2014 - 9 credits

As a musician, Ive always been attracted to the way our products are branded and later on sold to audiences. I believe that any media creation or product can be successful if accompanied by a solid strategy. Ive been wanting to take a course such as this one for a long time. The music industry depends largely on non-musicians, so it is important to know the ups and downs of this business. Looking forward to this course in particular since it allows the interaction among many art forms. It seems to t with my desire of mixing the multiple disciplines I am fond of and creating innovative media projects.

Competitive Strategies + The Brand Component*

Other Music (AUDIT)

*Certificate in Media Management

I wish to audit this class with Professor Barry Salmon, in order to know more about music in media and academic writings on the topic

4th Semester with a twist

Fall 2014 - 9 credits

Media Industry Perspectives: Digital Media* Projects in Digital Video Editing for Documentary Media Practices: Interactive

One of my tasks in Soundacity (my band), has been to manage the digital and social media. Having won a national contest in 2012, I am very intrigued in these digital strategy contexts.

Documentary and video editing is an art that has to be constantly polished and improved. Considering possible projects in music docs or advocacy lms, I will take this course with Emmy-Award winner Rafael Parra. This course will hand me valuable tools for applying creative ideas to interactive media platforms. I am very interested in this so I can also apply these skills to my pedalboard company La Duradera (www.laduradera.com)

The twist...

The twist is being conscious of the possibility that this academic plan can change. I am aware of the interdisciplinarity this program has, which can be also considered as a blank canvas for taking any course I want. Knowing this is possibly one of the last times I will be in a classroom, I want to take full advantage of the wide palette of options regarding media courses. At the same time, it is possible that instead of taking some of these previously named courses, Ill intern at a media production company or media management environment where I can prove my recently acquired set skills. Lastly, I am eager to continue down the road of media creation and management, for I truly believe that my musical talents and artistic thrive can be further enhanced with the knowledge I will obtain from these classes and of course, the ideal creative context The New School provides along with fellow classmates. As an international student, I am not quite sure where I will end up in, but positively certain that I will be pushing my boundaries as a media creator, scholar and musician, always prioritizing innovation and social change. I will continue to search for scholarships that can further aid my nancial needs while in school, knowing that later on I will be able to create a media production company (or similar) and use my media skills.