With the technology in the Ostin Center, we can prepare students for the professional marketplace, as well as make music accessible globally.
— Christopher Waterman, dean of the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture
Chris Waterman with students

Dean Waterman (right) discusses music with ethnomusicology majors Forrest Mitchell ’12 (left) and Wyatt Stone ’12.

Ready for the Real World

The Evelyn and Mo Ostin Music Center

Music industry executive Morris “Mo” Ostin ’51 knows firsthand how critical it is for professional musicians to be primed to function in a competitive world. Besides being talented and well-versed musically, they must be fluent in the latest technology and understand the world of performing arts and the business of music.

Ostin’s own stellar career experience prompted him to make a game-changing gift to UCLA so that music students can train in a state-of-the-art environment. His funding provides a major part of the cost of creating a cutting-edge multipurpose Evelyn and Mo Ostin Music Center, encompassing a high-tech recording studio, rehearsal and teaching spaces, a café and Internet-based production capability.

“This facility will support UCLA’s global view of music and enable us to make music accessible through digital technology to the widest possible audience,” says ethnomusicologist Christopher Waterman, dean of the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture. He particularly cites the school’s teaching mission that includes outreach to K-12 students and the larger community.

“Our commitment to providing a holistic education—from composition and performance to interdisciplinary and music industry studies—will continue to attract the very best students from California and around the world.”

Learn more: UCLA music students jam with jazz greats.