Legendary music lawyer John Branca made a $5 million gift to Occidental College in Los Angeles that will establish the John Branca Institute of Music at the school, it was announced on Tuesday (June 4).
David Kasunich, associate professor of music at Occidental, will serve as the inaugural director of the institute, a university-based music teaching and learning unit. The donation will allow Occidental to expand its music department, with a greater focus on contemporary music and enhancing the school's music business curriculum, as well as adding state-of-the-art technology and sound production facilities. Peter Grueneisen of non-zero architecture has been hired to renovate the music department facilities.
The institute will also work with community colleges, particularly Los Angeles City College, to create a direct pathway to increase transfer opportunities for students from diverse backgrounds interested in studying music at Occidental. It will develop additional special programming and joint research activities in conjunction with the Harvard Negotiation Project based at Harvard Law School and directed by Harvard Business School Professor Jim Sebenius.
Occidental is a four-time honoree Advertising signthe annual list of the top music business schools in the United States.
“Occidental College has a diverse student body and provides the most personalized undergraduate education in Los Angeles,” Branca, who graduated from the College with honors and distinction as a political science major in 1972, said in a statement. “As an administrator and alumnus, I am proud of the College's mission and academic excellence.”
Other notable Occidental alumni include President; Barack Obama (1983) and former CEO of Warner Music Group Steven Cooper (1968).
“John is a giant in the music industry and a true believer in the kind of personalized teaching and learning that can only happen at a small liberal arts college,” president of Occidental College. Harry Elam is added to a statement. “John's gift, combined with the state-of-the-art music production facilities we already have, will make Occidental a truly outstanding place to study music. We are so grateful to John for his generosity and vision in supporting the John Branca Institute for Music Education.”
During a decades-long career, Branca's clients include Aerosmith, The Beach Boys, the Beatles catalog, Dr. Dre, Fleetwood Mac and Berry Gordy; currently co-manages Michael Jackson's estate. He has been an Occidental trustee since 2003 and is a founding member of the school's Barack Obama Scholars Program Advisory Board. In 1998, a gift from Branca that went toward the renovation and expansion of Occidental's Johnson Student Center led to the Branca Family Atrium being named in honor of Branca's parents. Additional educational donations made by Branca led to the creation of the Branca Family Field at UCLA's Jackie Robinson Stadium, the Branca Baseball Facility at NYU, and the Branca Recruiting Patio for UCLA Basketball.
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