Delta State music camp gives teens hands-on industry experience

Fifteen high school students from Mississippi, Arkansas and Georgia spent June 14-19 inside Delta State University studios and performance spaces, learning the jobs that keep the music business moving. The Delta Music Institute Summer Camp brought together students ages 14 to 18 for a five-day residential program in Cleveland, Mississippi, with training centered on performance, songwriting, audio production and other entertainment-industry careers.

Students worked in four recording studios and two rehearsal spaces, toured the Bologna Performing Arts Center and GRAMMY Museum Mississippi, and joined a virtual session with Steve Azar, the institute’s artist in residence. The camp ended with a Friday afternoon showcase concert attended by family members and guests. The program cost $300, plus a $100 application fee that applied toward tuition, and the fee covered curriculum, materials, field trips, lodging and all meals in selected campus dorms.

Housed in Delta State’s College of Business and Aviation, DMI’s bachelor’s degree in Entertainment Industry Studies is designed to teach the technological, creative and business sides of the field, and its current camp tracks include audio engineering, performance and singer-songwriter instruction. Billboard named DMI one of the nation’s Top Music Business Schools for 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, while Richard Tremmel’s faculty bio lists that recognition in 2022, 2023 and 2024 under his leadership. It has ties to GRAMMY Museum Mississippi, Avid’s Pro Tools certification pathway and the Dolby Institute.

Cleveland County Schools offers more than 100 courses across 27 pathways, including Drone Technology, EMT, Teaching as a Profession, Child Development and Advanced Manufacturing, and its fine arts page includes music and theatrics. But the district’s posted pathway materials do not show a dedicated music-business or audio-engineering track.

Mississippi Arts Commission funding for DMI’s summer camp was $4,250 for fiscal 2025, and The Kings Daughters & Sons Circle No. 2 of Greenville awarded Delta State grants in 2025 to support DMI and the Bologna Performing Arts Center.