How Can We Reimagine Creative Education?

Description:Explore how passionate educators are building innovative frameworks for creative education across the Southeast through two unique perspectives. Featuring Derek "Prez" Jackson on establishing a collegiate model for music entrepreneurship that treats creative development with the same seriousness as athletics, and Montgomery Davis on creating more inclusive, consent-driven spaces in performing arts training. Together, they demonstrate how lived experience can transform into sustainable systems that serve communities historically excluded from artistic career pathways.Creating equitable pathways to music industry careers through educational systemsBuilding entrepreneurial frameworks for creative talent developmentEstablishing consent-driven practices in performance educationMaking creative training accessible for diverse communities and abilitiesDeveloping student-led creative communities on college campusesTransforming personal tragedy into purpose-driven educational modelsCreating supportive networks for underrepresented creative voicesNavigating industry transitions through community-centered approachesAdapting teaching methods for differently-abled performersBalancing creative development with business acumenDerek "Preez Jackson" - Founder and Executive Director of National Collegiate Entertainers Group (NSEC); Atlanta-born entrepreneur; Leader of NSEC Southern Convention initiativeMontgomery Davis - Fight and intimacy choreographer; Teaching artist and educator; Motion capture performer; Advocate for accessible performing arts training"We are creating essentially the NCAA of the music industry." - Derek "Prez" Jackson"This industry is entrepreneurship. None of nobody told us that when we were falling in love with music, they just said, 'Hey, make the music, get signed.' ... And once you expose the students to the fact that this is entrepreneurship and what that means... then everything else just kind of starts to click." - Derek "Prez" Jackson"If you are given a container by an actor based off of their abilities or their cultural identity, and you don't know how to then create choreography for them, then you're not doing your job... My job is to take the box and the container that I'm given and create the story that we're trying to tell." - Montgomery DavisDerek: National Collegiate Entertainers Group (nationalceg.org or nsec.org)Montgomery: themontgomerydavis.com@couldbeprettycool | couldbeprettycool.com | couldbeprettycoolnews.substack.comKeywords: Music entrepreneurship, creative education, fight choreography, intimacy direction, collegiate arts, creative entrepreneurship, consent-driven practices, accessible arts training, student organizations, industry transitions, inclusive arts education, sustainable creative careers