ICON Collective, a pillar of digital music manufacturing schooling primarily based in Los Angeles, has formally shut down. The varsity introduced its everlasting closure on Might twenty ninth, citing monetary difficulties as the explanation behind the abrupt transfer.
ICON had filed for Chapter 11 chapter safety on August sixth, 2024 in an effort to restructure and protect operations earlier than in the end deciding to shut.
“It’s with deep remorse and a heavy coronary heart that we share the information that ICON Collective can be completely closed as of Might 29,” wrote co-founder David Alexander Valencia in a press release posted to the varsity’s web site. “ICON has confronted monetary circumstances that require a immediate closure to guard the refunds and tuition funds probably attributable to college students.”
Though the varsity’s web site stays lively, its official Instagram account has gone offline. A discover on the door of its Downtown Burbank campus now directs college students to an online portal for info on tutorial information, tuition restoration and steerage. The stakes are particularly excessive for worldwide college students, who’ve simply 15 days to both switch to a brand new college or go away the nation.
Based in 2005 by Christopher Wright and David Alexander Valencia, ICON was developed to supply a extra artist-centric strategy to music schooling. The varsity in 2017 earned accreditation earlier than opening a facility in 2020, serving college students each in-person and on-line. Identified for its hands-on studying surroundings and community-oriented tradition, the varsity turned a trusted vacation spot for aspiring DJs and digital music producers.
Through the years, ICON helped launch the careers of many high-profile digital artists, together with NGHTMRE, SLANDER, Kayzo, Sullivan King, Kompany, Pauline Herr and the late i_o, amongst others. A number of have taken to social media to bemoan the varsity’s shutdown.
“Icon Collective modified EVERYTHING for us.. in the present day is a really unhappy day for the music group in dropping such a priceless useful resource,” SLANDER wrote on X. “We need to thank everybody on the Collective for all of the blood, sweat, and tears they put into MAKING DREAMS HAPPEN.”
“RIP Icon Collective,” Kompany wrote. “That college modified the course of my life and profession. Without end grateful.”
Former scholar James Choi, who performs and produces music below the alias SKYFVLL, says the varsity was instrumental in shaping his profession.
“I used to be misplaced in my artist challenge earlier than ICON,” Choi tells EDM.com. “However after attending, I lastly felt a way of course that no YouTube tutorial or Reddit thread would’ve proven. I’m nonetheless actually shut with my classmates, whether or not it’s engaged on collabs or occurring songwriting journeys, and I’m actually grateful for the group that ICON gave me. It’s at ICON the place I actually discovered what it meant to be an artist and to be distinctive as one. Arms down one of the best resolution I made in my life.”
Extra info could be discovered on the ICON Collective website.
