Bobby Carter, music producer and host of National Public Radio’s Tiny Desk Concerts, will serve as the 2026 Clifford Family Innovator in Residence at ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ. Carter will be in residence from March 3 through March 7, 2026.
This residency celebrates Carter’s career as a globally respected DJ, NPR host and producer, music writer, and public speaker. His visit will provide the ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ community with insights into the intersection of digital media, storytelling, and the music industry.
The residency will feature a series of collaborative engagements with students and the community, including:
- Classroom visits
- A campus meet-and-greet with students, faculty, and staff
- Guest appearance on WRCU FM 90.1
- Discussion and reception on Thursday, March 5, 2026
- Live DJ event on Friday, March 6, 2026, featuring DJ Cuzzin B, Carter’s DJ identity, and DJ Phade Ali, a.k.a. Assistant Professor of Film and Media Studies and Africana and Latin America Studies Aaron Dial.
All members of the community are invited to the discussion and reception on Thursday, March 5, and the live DJ event on Friday, March 6. More information to follow as details become available.
Carter produced his first Tiny Desk concert in 2014. Since then, his work has been at the intersection of music, technology, and engagement. He turned a modest Tiny Desk celebration of Black History Month in 2021 into a cross-cultural event combining music, film, photojournalism, and commentary. Carter leveraged this template to pull new teams together to bring a multi-dimensional, multi-continent, multi-platform celebration of Black Music Month, LatinX Heritage Month, Asian American/Pacific Islander Month and Indigenous People Month.
His vision has helped forge partnerships with, among others, HBO, Complexcon, and Amazon. Tiny Desk Concerts average 40 million views per month on YouTube, and the phenomenal success of the brand has led to its expansion into Korea and Japan.
From 2020 to 2022, Carter and the music team adapted to the challenges of the pandemic to produce the innovative Tiny Desk [Home] Concerts series with artists like Kirk Franklin, Tame Impala, Tems, Jazmine Sullivan, and C. Tangana.
Carter's career with NPR started in 1999 as a DJ for member station WJSU in Jackson, Miss. After graduating from Jackson State University in the summer of 2000, he traveled to Washington, D.C., to begin his stint as the first intern for the yet-to-be-released web music program All Songs Considered. He was later hired by NPR’s New Media department, where he helped to lead and build the digital infrastructure for daily operations of NPR.org, driving live and on-demand programming for countless historical events including five Presidential elections, the Iraq War, and 9/11.
When NPR Music launched in 2007, he lent his talents to the team, leading live remotes from the 9:30 Club, Le Poisson Rouge in New York, The Americana Awards, SXSW, and the Newport Folk and Jazz Festivals.
During his time at NPR, Carter has helped expand NPR Music’s reach, earning multiple Webby Awards, an Anthem Award, and a BET Hip Hop Award nomination.
The Clifford Family Innovator in Residence is made possible through the generosity of J. Christopher Clifford ’67, H’11, P’93, Keena Clifford P’93, and Carrie Clifford ’93, and their support of ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ’s Arts, Creativity, and Innovation Initiative. The residency will bring innovators from across different fields in the arts, entrepreneurship, pedagogy, and technology to share their knowledge and work with the ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ community.