Dedicated to the study of popular music and the music industry, the Branca Institute is spearheading new educational partnerships.
Harvard Negotiation Project Partnership
The Branca Institute has partnered with the (HNP) on its initiative "," which is led by , the Director of the HNP and world-renowned expert on negotiation.
In Fall 2024, students applied to be part of a Spring 2025 directed research course convened by David Kasunic, James Sebenius, and his collaborator , of the Harvard Kennedy School. The three students who were selected to participate conducted research on John Branca's negotiation of the Michael Jackson Estate. Their research will contribute to the case studies and eventual book that Sebenius and Green intend to write on John Branca and the Michael Jackson Estate.
Going forward, the HNP-Occidental partnership will expand its purview of research to include negotiation practice in the music industry writ large. Future plans include further directed research courses convening Â鶹ÊÓƵstudents with HNP faculty and graduate students, as well as intensive summer research under the auspices of the Summer Research Program of Occidental's Undergraduate Research Center.
Los Angeles City College Partnership
The Occidental Music Department is finalizing an articulation agreement with LACC that will ensure that transferring students have a smooth transition to Occidental and are set up for success. In 2027, we will launch a weeklong summer camp at Occidental to introduce prospective LACC students to studying music in a liberal arts college setting.