The Association of Music Producers’ Diversity & Inclusion Committee has announced the four recipients of its inaugural Diversity & Inclusion Scholarship Program. Co-sponsored by the Save the Music Foundation, a non-profit organization that partners with school districts and communities to promote music education, the scholarship program was launched earlier this year with the goal of providing both educational and career development support for promising young musicians and producers from underrepresented communities.
The 2024 Scholarship recipients list consists of Uche Anwanyu, Jadia Brown, Max Castrillo and Justice Short.
Anwanyu is a Brooklyn-based composer who’s currently attending Bates College. He’s a member of the NYC-based organization Building Beats, and is a strong leader who’s eager to learn and is dedicated to his craft. Brown is an L.A.-based composer who’s currently attending Los Angeles Film School. President of the Honor Society, she’s a solo artist who’s also in several female-led groups and has a passion for music production. Castrillo is a NYC-based music supervisor who graduated from The New School with a B.A. in Music, fueled by a near-perfect GPA. He loves the power music has when put against a visual piece. Short, based in Chicago, is a composer who’s currently attending Columbia College on a partial scholarship for the creative arts. A native of New Orleans, he’s an artist and producer who loves how music can bring people together and build communities.
“These four young people were selected because they impressed the jury with their musical talent and their potential for compelling music production,” explained AMP president Carol Dunn of Human, a member of the D&I Committee. “Thanks to this AMP scholarship initiative, they’ll receive production equipment that may have been financially out of reach, as well as invaluable opportunities to learn more about how the ad music business works from our members. We’re excited about what they can bring to our industry.”
Recipients will receive laptops, training, resumé oversight and mentoring from top professionals in the field as part of the program, Dunn added. “Our goal is to provide insights and inspiration for up-and-coming musical creators from underrepresented cultures to learn about and enter into this exciting musical career.”
Traditionally the advertising business and its suppliers are predominantly White and male, but AMP’s D&I Committee is trying to change that by creating such ground roots programs as this scholarship effort. In addition to Dunn, the committee membership includes co-chair Jennie Armon of Squeak E. Clean, Georg Bissen of Metatechnik, Craig Caniglia of Human, independent composer Denitia Odigie and Adrian Womack of Racket Club.
Under their leadership, AMP raised over $26,000 to fund the scholarship. Armon and Womack put the effort over the top by organizing a fundraiser at the 2023 SXSW Festival, featuring a performance by Francis Garcia at Shout it Out Loud Music and Charlie David at BMG during the heavily attended “Hang the DJ x SXSW” event.
“Amongst all the chaos and pain of George Floyd’s murder, we looked inward at our community and saw a lack of diversity that we needed to address and change,” said Armon. “Beginning on Giving Tuesday of 2022, the D&I committee began knocking on doors. There were so many companies in our industry that supported this endeavor, it was truly moving. Now that we have four amazing recipients for this cause, we can really dig in and support them joining our industry! We are so thrilled with this freshman class of recipients, and we’re looking to the future and the next recipients of 2024!”
For more information on how to contribute to this cause, contact AMP here.
