Jason King previously served as the chair of the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.
When Jason King was announced as the new dean of the USC Thornton School of Music earlier this year, the term “multihyphenate” was used to describe his career. It has been almost 10 months since that announcement was made, and on Monday afternoon — in front of a banquet hall of his colleagues, family, students and friends — King provided a little more context on what that word means.
“To be a multihyphenate is now the norm in an age where musicians have to consider diversified revenue streams, and musicians have to understand how to make technology work for them in ways they didn’t necessarily have to do before,” King said.
“I believe that the USC Thornton School of Music is uniquely positioned to take advantage of all of this disruption and all these seismic shifts.”
King was officially installed as dean of USC Thornton during a ceremony at Town and Gown on the University Park Campus on Monday but assumed the new role on July 1. He succeeds interim Dean Josh Kun, who served in that position following Robert Cutietta’s decision to step down at the end of the 2022 academic year.