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EMPOWER ATLANTA
YOUR FUTURE IS NOW: HOW THE RECORDING ACADEMY SUPPORTS THE NEXT GENERATION OF BLACK MUSIC LEADERS By Jada Alexis
T
he Recording Academy’s Black Music Collective (BMC) and Amazon Music select 5 HBCU students to receive an immersive rotation program opportunity and $10,000 in scholarships. We spoke with Ryan Butler (The Recording Academy’s VP of DEI) and students Zsana Hoskins (Senior, Howard University), Jasmine Gordon (Junior, Spelman University), and Jayden Potts (Sophomore, Jackson State University) about the “Your Future Is Now” scholarship and The Recording Academy’s efforts to support the next generation of black music leaders. Please take a look at our conversation below. Q. How did you all learn about the “Your Future Is Now” scholarship? Jasmine: I was actually researching information about GRAMMY U, and I reached out to the rep from the D.C. chapter. He went to Howard University. I pretty much was just like, “Hey, please tell me a little bit about GRAMMY U.” He was really receptive and told me all about it. Then, he told me there was going to be a scholarship
coming out soon. So, the scholarship came out, and I immediately applied.
Jayden: I found out about the “Your Future Is Now” scholarship through my mother and a few friends that sent me the link. Once I saw it, I knew I was the perfect fit per the description of the scholarship. Zsana: For me, it was Instagram. I saw an ad on Instagram, and I was like, “Ok, I fit the description for the requirements.” Q. I know there are a lot of kids that would feel like the requirements to apply for the scholarship is a lot. Can you explain what are the requirements for the scholarship? Ryan: It was an essay, a creative video, a transcript, and a letter of rec. So, typical scholarship deliverables. Nothing outrageous, but I will say the tradeoff is worth it. I feel like the time they spent making the video and time spent trying to collect those letters of recommendation, and writing the essay; I think the value of the program was worth the tradeoff of the time that it took you to do the application. I mean, not only do you get the scholarship, but you get to have a one-week immersive experience. Q. Is there a specific career path that you all are on, or are you still figuring it out? Ryan: I’m going to let them answer, but this is the beauty of it and why all of them were selected because they each have a different career
