Only in Houston

The improvisational entrepreneur: David Dove brings music to at-risk kidsthrough Nameless Sound

What's the point of music — the arts in general — if you can't share it? That's David Dove's inspiration and the modus operandi behind his Houston-based nonprofit Nameless Sound.

Nameless Sound emerged from Dove's own volunteer commitments with other local arts community service organizations, growing organically as he developed a different way to reach children through creative activities.

"I am like an improvisational entrepreneur," Dove told videographers John Carrithers and Douglas Newman in the latest installment of Profiles of Innovation, a CultureMap series that highlights Houston entrepreneurs.

"We are doing music workshops with kids based on creativity, diversity and improvisation," Dove explained. "And we see hundreds of kids every week in homeless shelters, refugee communities and schools."

To some, Nameless Sound is recognized for presenting forward-thinking concerts ranging from avant garde jazz to electro acoustic music. Hosting major players of the genre like Keith Rowe, Kjell Bjorgeengen and Pauline Oliveros, Dove has plenty of aesthetic inspiration for his own artistic development.

But entrenched in the organization's core is a strong music education program that was developed out of Dove's experience. Examining what worked and what was lacking in his own musical upbringing, Nameless Sound came to implement a program that Dove says could only happen in Houston. It's rooted in the city's interest in sophisticated arts, the real stuff.

"We are doing music workshops with kids based on creativity, diversity and improvisation," Dove explained. "And we see hundreds of kids every week in homeless shelters, refugee communities and schools."

It's not about teaching children to become musicians, to follow in the footsteps of improvisational jazz. Nameless Sound wants to incite students of music to apply what they have learned to other areas of life.

Best in class

2 Houston schools lead 2025 rankings for top entrepreneurship programs

Rice University, aerial, campus, buildings

Photo courtesy of Rice University

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Rice University and the University of Houston have topped The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur’s lists of the best graduate and undergraduate schools for entrepreneurship studies for 2025.

Neither school is a stranger to the prestigious national rankings.

Rice ranks first in the graduate category for the sixth consecutive year, and UH ranks first in the undergraduate category for the sixth consecutive year.

“At Rice Business, our students learn both inside and outside the classroom, drawing on our strong industry and community connections in Houston and beyond,” says Peter Rodriguez, dean of Rice’s Jones Graduate School of Business, in a release. “With small class sizes and tailored programs, we aim to equip our students with the skills to create new ventures and excel in a fast-changing business landscape.”

UH President Renu Khator praises the ranking as recognition for the impact of the Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship at the C.T. Bauer College of Business.

“This program is a tremendous asset not only to the University of Houston and the Bauer College of Business, but also to the city of Houston, where entrepreneurship fuels both socioeconomic mobility and economic growth,” Khator says in a release. “We are proud to see the impact of this program reverberate throughout our community.”

Rankings for The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur’s 2025 lists were based on a survey of administrators at nearly 300 schools in the U.S., Canada, and Europe that offer entrepreneurship studies. Among the more than 40 factors used for the rankings were academic programs, faculty credentials, mentorship opportunities, and alumni entrepreneurship ventures.

The only other school in Texas that made either top-10 was the University of Texas at Austin.

The top 10 schools on the list of 50 best graduate schools for entrepreneurship studies in 2025 are:

1. Rice University
2. University of California-Los Angeles
3. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
4. Washington University in St. Louis
5. Babson College
6. University of Washington
7. University of Texas at Austin
8. University of Virginia
9. Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands
10. University of South Florida

The top 10 schools on the list of 50 best undergraduate schools for entrepreneurship studies in 2025 are:

1. University of Houston
2. University of Texas at Austin
3. Babson College
4. University of Washington
5. Washington University in St. Louis
6. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
7. University of Maryland-College Park
8. Miami University of Ohio
9. Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico
10. Northeastern University

The spirit of entrepreneurship is strong in Houston. The city recently ranked No. 7 on a list of the of the 10 best U.S. cities for entrepreneurs to live.

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The story originally was published on our sister site, InnovationMap.

best schools entrepreneurs entrepreneurship rankings rice rice university uh university of houston

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