June 27, 2024
UPDATE
HBCU students chart their career paths in America’s Music City
Launched in collaboration with Apple through its Racial Equity and Justice Initiative, the PROPEL Center’s year-long Arts and Entertainment Industry Accelerator is designed to drive diversity across the industry.
Empathy and storytelling skills. Motivational and strategic leadership. These are just a few of the qualities that participants in this year’s PROPEL Center Arts and Entertainment Industry Accelerator program identified in their “What’s Your Superpower?” course, designed to empower students to discover and embrace their authentic selves throughout their careers.
“I think the empathy comes from being the first child. I’ve always taken care of my younger siblings and cousins and I wanted to make sure they were okay,” says Liza Montgomery, a 2024 mass communications graduate from Xavier University of Louisiana. Montgomery was one of more than 100 students from historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) who were selected for PROPEL’s creative arts accelerator.
Discovering their superpowers is just one way students are learning to prepare for their careers after graduation. Since February, students have completed microcredential courses through the PROPEL Learn app, participated in virtual career panels with Apple professionals, and attended resume writing workshops to build their portfolios and begin preparing for their career paths.
This summer, 50 participants, including Montgomery, were selected from 19 HBCUs to attend a 10-day immersive experience on the campuses of Tennessee State University in Nashville and Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta. There, they received mentorship from HBCU faculty and industry professionals in creative and executive roles, and worked side-by-side with experts in Apple Music’s Nashville office.
The accelerator was launched with the PROPEL Center as part of Apple’s $25 million investment through its Racial Equity and Justice Initiative to help dismantle systemic barriers to opportunity and combat injustices faced by communities of color. Its curricula were designed to provide new pathways for HBCU students to pursue careers in industries that are notoriously competitive.
“Subject matter experts are critical to this process,” says Dr. Lisa Herring, president of the PROPEL Center. “There’s nothing more powerful than a student being able to interact with someone who is an expert as they seek to become one. Apple’s belief in being able to not just be a partner, but be at the table, go from the table and then be in the field, and then be side-by-side with our students and instructors — that’s commitment down to the details.”
The PROPEL Center is the first global learning and innovation center of its kind for HBCUs. To support the next generation of diverse leaders, PROPEL offers educational programs and career preparation across a wide range of disciplines, including artificial intelligence, agricultural technologies, social justice, entertainment, app development, augmented reality, design, and creative arts. Apple experts help develop the curricula and provide ongoing mentoring and internship opportunities.
“When we launched our Racial Justice and Equity Initiative four years ago, we did so with a clear mission to advance equity and create greater access to opportunity for underserved communities,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives. “These are persistent and systemic challenges, and we are committed to working with partners, including the PROPEL Center, to close existing gaps and make meaningful change. Our collaboration with PROPEL is designed to give talented students the technology, resources and experience they need to become industry leaders, whether they seek roles in arts and entertainment, technology or beyond.”
In Nashville, students visited the National Museum of African American Music for a fireside chat with Apple Music Global Editorial Director of Hip Hop and R&B Ebro Darden; spoke directly with experts in their fields at the Apple Music Nashville office and Universal Music Group’s East Iris Studios; and participated in an Apple Downtown Nashville store experience.
Accelerator participants also collaborated on projects related to this year’s theme, “Driving Preservation.” Through their work, the 10-person teams showcased how Black creatives have contributed to social movements and how they can ignite a new era that sustains HBCU culture for future generations.
“‘Propelling Preservation’ is about documenting people who haven’t had a voice,” Montgomery says. “What I’ve tried to do with my art is accurately communicate the voices and experiences that haven’t been included for a long time. For me, it’s about making sure I’m documenting the stories of people of color and what they look like in their most authentic and vibrant states.”
“A lot of times when people think about the Black social justice movement, they think of something negative,” adds Emmanuel Strickland, a Tennessee State University student and emerging R&B singer who is one of Montgomery’s teammates. “We’re trying to put a positive spin on it. Our project is about the love for HBCUs and the different things we go through as college students on a daily basis — how we move together as a unit. No matter what HBCU you go to, you’ll be able to relate.”
As part of the project, each team was assigned a genre and tasked with recording a music single, creating a marketing plan, filming a visual campaign using an iPhone, and pitching their concept to a judging panel made up of industry professionals.
In her role, Montgomery designed her band’s marketing plan and song cover. While using the Apple Pencil and the Procreate app on her iPad Pro, she appreciated the speed and versatility of the app’s tools.
“The way Procreate and my iPad with Apple Pencil can mimic a traditionally drawn piece of art is amazing because it’s not just a flat piece,” he explains. “It has the ability to show dimension, texture, shiny objects, and even animation. Using Procreate really makes the possibilities for digital artwork pretty limitless.”
Growing up, Strickland, who performs under the name “Mille Manny,” was constantly surrounded by music. His home was filled with the sounds of his mother and sisters’ voices singing along to songs by female superstars like Mariah Carey, Selena and even Beyoncé. “Being from Memphis, you’re born with that soul inside of you,” he says.
As his career takes off, Strickland is always thinking about his next song. When inspiration strikes, he records lyrics and melodies in Voice Memos on his iPhone 13 Pro Max. And at home, his MacBook and Neumann microphone serve as a mini studio as he produces tracks in Pro Tools.
During the accelerator program, Strickland, Montgomery, and their teammates collaborated with artist, producer, musician, and songwriter Fresh Ayr (who provided the beat for their track) and the audio engineering team at UMG East Iris Studios to produce their song in Logic Pro. This level of access and visibility for students is just one of the benefits of the program.
“The biggest moment of revelation for me was probably realizing that it’s not what you see on the surface, it’s what’s underneath,” Strickland says. “The accelerator is enlightening, it shows how to make a journey, or this is what’s going on behind the scenes. We’re realizing that it’s more than just a couple of people you can see making things happen.”
“The PROPEL program does a great job of giving HBCU students a platform to truly showcase who we are. We have the opportunity to express ourselves artistically, build invaluable relationships, and have authentic conversations with industry professionals who are in positions we aspire to be in as we grow throughout our careers,” Montgomery adds.
As aspiring creatives, musicians, and even accountants and lawyers made their way around Nashville during the accelerator program, that level of access to industry professionals was invaluable. Students engaged in candid conversations about how the industry works, gained deeper insight into unexpected areas with more opportunities for new talent, and learned from the personal experiences of artists like Kirk Franklin, a world-renowned gospel musician who had to navigate a historically inaccessible industry on his own.
“A lot of the students come from different schools and come from different backgrounds,” says Sylvester Polk, a music engineering mentor in the accelerator program and a music technology professor at Bethune-Cookman University, an HBCU in Daytona Beach, Florida. “Some of them have already been exposed to a lot of things, others have no idea. There are so many fields and so many skills that are required in various areas that it can be open to a lot of people. The accelerator program has been great at giving students a holistic understanding of what the industry is and how it works, and PROPEL has been able to provide an extension into the classroom.”
“It allows us to be in the room, to be heard, to have the reach to talk to people who are in the industry that we aspire to be in,” Strickland says. “With this program, there will be internships and apprenticeships. There will be real-life connections that people can foster, nurture, and potentially get something really moving.”
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