Last week, select college seniors were granted special access to Donald Glover’s Gilga, a creative campus in Ojai, Calif., for a week-long bootcamp hosted in partnership with Sony Corporation of America.
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“Our first collaboration with Donald Glover was helping bring his pop-up concert at Little Island in New York to life, tied to the Bando Stone & the New World album rollout last year,” says Sony’s Jordy Freed, head of brand, business development and strategy. “That experience gave us a window into his goals, his team’s goals and ultimately led us to discover Gilga.”
To kick off the camp, the students – all of whom are studying music production, composition or related fields – were divided into two teams. By the end of the camp, each team emerged with five original songs that they wrote, recorded and mixed themselves, having full access to Gilga’s studios and editing suites plus Sony’s cutting edge technology, including its 360 Virtual Mixing Environment.
“It was cool to see young people working towards a goal in person,” says Glover. “I’m glad they made things, but the best part was them hanging together.”
Gilga x Sony camp
Joseph Collier
When the students weren’t making music or getting to know one another, they were learning about the industry through various panels, with speakers including composer and producer Ludwig Göransson, recording and mix engineer Stu White, artists Samara Cyn and Ray Vaughn and executives from Wasserman Music, RCA Records and elsewhere.
Students stayed at Gilga’s on-site housing, and were also free to explore all that the Ojai farm has to offer beyond creation, including its orange and avocado orchards and an artisanal sandwich shop.
“What Donald is building with Gilga is more than a location or a company — it’s a cultural hub that intends to support creators holistically and nurtures their ideas with care,” says Freed. “That philosophy mirrors our creator-first approach at Sony, where we are supporting creators at all stages, providing tools and resources and supporting their vision authentically. Prioritizing creativity with integrity at the root not only helps elevate creators, it also has the power to strengthen culture as a whole.”
Adds Myles Williams, Gilga’s Director of Operations, “Being able to ignite creativity in such talented youth makes us excited for a future that people tend to speak bleakly about.”
