Students Excel in the 2024 Jacobs School of Music Innovation Competition

On Saturday, February 3, the OECD hosted the annual Jacobs School of Music Innovation Competition in partnership with the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Kelley School of Business.

We’re thrilled to announce that the winner, receiving $6,000, was doctoral clarinet student Anoushka Divekar who presented her project Clarinet Chronicles  that enriches learning experiences within early clarinet study. In second place, with a $1,000 prize, was Kathiana Dargenson, who presented Harmonizing Haiti that celebrates the similarities and contrasts between Haitian culture and opera/classical music. Congratulations to the winners, as well as the seven finalists who all presented their ideas.

Our thanks to the judging panel: Dr. K (Donald Kuratko), Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Kelley School of Business and Executive & Academic Director of the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation; Krishna Thiagarajan, Jacobs alumnus and Chief Executive & President of Seattle Symphony and Benaroya Hall; Travis Brown, Senior Executive Assistant Dean of Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Commercialization at the Luddy School, Suzanne Allen, Director of IU Corps; and Daixuan Ai, JSoM composition student.  We also thank JSoM David Henry Jacobs Bicentennial Dean Abra Bush for her strong support and student Kearsen Erwin for assisting with management of the project!

Financial support is gratefully received from donor Frank Graves, the Johnson Center, IU Ventures, and the Office of Entrepreneurship & Career Development.

We invite you to learn about these inspiring projects.  And here are photos from the event >

Anoushka Divekar, First Prize ($6,000)
Clarinet Chronicles: Finding Your Voice in the First Year
Clarinet Chronicles is an innovative method book guided by research-based asset pedagogies to ensure effective and enriching learning experiences within early clarinet study. To ensure that students from diverse backgrounds can benefit from the advantages of learning an instrument, the book is designed to synchronize with multiple cultural identities. Once refined and tested, the research-based asset approach to repertoire can be used with method books in multiple instruments.

Kathiana Dargenson, Second Prize ($1,000)
Harmonizing Haiti
Becoming an opera singer requires extreme dedication to a long-existing Eurocentric artform derived under very specific circumstances. “Harmonizing Haiti” is a concert series that involves collaborative and commissioned works that feature Haitian poets, musicians, and artists who celebrate the similarities and contrasts between Haitian culture and opera/classical music. Harmonizing Haiti serves as a prototype for a number of cultural events in different locations, unveiling and revealing the artistic strength of marginalized cultures within community life.

Jamey Guzman, Finalist ($250)
The Jenny Project
The Jenny Project brings opera and musical drama into an innovative form of multimedia entertainment aimed toward a teenage and young-adult audience. The project creates stories with substantive representation of communities rarely, if ever, seen in the operatic form: stories of queer acceptance, neurodivergence, and trauma and mental health recovery. These communities are highly represented among the population of teens on the Internet today, and wildly underserved and easily mislead by misinformation in the social media culture. This project aims to make these communities of children in their most vulnerable age feel seen, heard, and respected, and gives them a form of entertainment unlike anything seen today.

Marielle Hug, Finalist ($250)
Yoga Harmony
By integrating yoga and live classical music, Yoga Harmony offers a unique and impactful experience that promotes creativity, mindfulness, and movement. With breath as the connection point between live music and yoga, this project brings the two worlds together through a series of classes for students, faculty, and members of the Bloomington community.

Wayne Kreml, Finalist ($250)
Waypoint Music Camps
Waypoint Music Camps is a week-long music camp designed to bring specialized and supplementary music education to areas in need in Ohio. These areas include school districts that are distant from any established music camps, such as Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp or Tanglewood. Waypoint aims not only to offer young players a set of experiences that strengthen their creative interests, but also provides them with access to resources and ongoing mentorship as they advance their musical journey.

Regan Poarch, Finalist ($250)
The Not-So-Starving Artist
In a world where artistic and creative brilliance often contends with financial constraints and challenges, “The Not-So-Starving Artist” serves as a pioneering brand with the aim to irradicate the ‘starving artist’ stigma. Through the development and curation of mentorship, tools, and resources, “The Not-So-Starving Artist” promotes financial literacy in a way that substantially assists musicians as the embark on their early careers.

Scott Roberts, Finalist ($250)
Kaboodle
Since every organ is unique in its combination of sounds, console configuration, keyboard touch, and mechanical controls, organists encounter a unique challenge in the performance of their art. Consequently, when encountering a new instrument, an organist spends a significant amount of time becoming familiar with these aspects of the instrument. Kaboodle addresses this challenge through a computer application that enables an organist to visualize and “work with” an organ console prior to arriving at the instrument, thereby maximizing the time that they have available at the console.

Skyler Schlenker, Finalist ($250)
Habit Harmonies
Habit Harmonies is an education-assist tool that utilizes ‘habit stacking’ to implement healthy and productive learning habits. By using AI to connect subscription music services to a well-organized curriculum, Habit Harmonies strategically organizes a unique set of daily habits, enabling the student to maximally absorb content. The app will be designed to drive engagement with students, adding value to education, and help students be happier and more productive.

Kathleen Simunek, Finalist ($250)
Barbie: The Opera
“Barbie: The Opera” is a commissioning project in which students at the Jacobs School of Music write for a new opera. The dream is to someday have a fully original work that would be performed on stages in major companies and venues across the country. With the Barbie movie coming out just last year it is a relevant and current story about real issues society is facing today. The production of “Barbie: the Opera” would give women in the Jacobs School a meaningful performance opportunity, provide student leadership experience, and a enable a cool project that the students I’ve spoken to already are incredibly enthused about.