Chairman of National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences to Speak at Loyola on Monday

George Flanigen IV, award-winning music video director/producer and Chairman of the board for the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, will launch the 2012-13 "Get Inforumed" music industry speaker series on Monday, Oct. 1 at 5 p.m. in Nunemaker Auditorium in Monroe Hall. The forum, which is part of the Department of Music Industry Studies at Loyola University New Orleans, is free and open to the public and will be streamed live online at http://www.cfmae.org/category/forums/. 

Flanigen will discuss his education, specifically the things he found most valuable while at college and the things he learned in the music industry profession itself.  Additionally, he will discuss the evolution of his career and the ways he developed as both an important and unique visual artist and a vastly successful commercial director. Flanigen will also address how he came to be in NARAS, why the organization became important to him and how he arrived where he is today. 

NARAS is underwriting Flanigen's appearance at Loyola. Flanigen is also donating his speaker's honorarium to pay for a scholarship for 40 Loyola students to join the Recording Academy's GRAMMY U for a year. A unique and fast-growing community of full-time college students who are pursuing a career in the recording industry, GRAMMY U helps prepare students for their careers in the music industry through networking, educational programs and performance opportunities. GRAMMY U is designed to enhance students' current academic curriculum with access to recording industry professionals to give an "out of classroom" perspective on the recording industry.

Also on the board of the GRAMMY Foundation, Flanigen is a former national trustee and Nashville chapter president for the Recording Academy. He has directed the opening sequence for Monday Night Football since 1989, and his tv/film and Production Company, Deaton Flanigen, has won major awards, including the Clio Award, Emmy Awards, CMA Video of the Year and CMT Video Directors of the Year, among others. Deaton Flanigen Productions was also honored four times with GRAMMY Award nominations for Best Short Form Music Video. 

"Get Inforumed," a weekly forum throughout the year featuring experienced music professionals from across the industry, is organized by Loyola students with a mind for arts and entrepreneurship. Each forum is designed to excite the community of creative minds and art entrepreneurs through conversations, with the most experienced, sincere and relatable professionals in the industry. 

Other speakers scheduled for the fall "Get Inforumed" series include: 

October 8

Terry Ellis – Co-founder of Chrysalis Records

During his long tenure in the music industry, Ellis has gained one of the most successful track records for discovering and developing new recording artists. Born in Hertfordshire, England, he began booking concerts while at university. After getting into business with Chris Wright, Ellis ventured into artist management and music publishing and founded Chrysalis Records, a company that handled the management and booking of well-known acts such as Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin, Clouds and Ten Years After. By 1974, Chrysalis Records was noted as leading the pack in the independent record company world. Ellis was particularly good at launching new talent such as Billy Idol and Pat Benatar, and in 1980, Ellis was elected as Chairman of the Recording Industry Association of America. He went on to work with the British Phonographic Industry, International Federation of Phonographic Industries and BMG. 

October 29

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