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PrePro, the mentorship program designed to expose culturally diverse students to careers in post production and music and sound for brands and ad agencies, is now accepting applications for its Fall 2017 session. Co-sponsored by AICE and AMP, the program is expanding to the Chicago market with this new session and is actively recruiting post production and music companies to participate. Full details on PrePro can be found at its website,http://www.prepromentorship.org/.

PrePro is open to students between the ages of 18 and 23. The program matches eligible students with working professionals, who provide hands-on learning opportunities in editing, audio mixing, visual effects, music scoring and related disciplines. In addition, mentors share up-close looks at the day-to-day operations of their companies and provide guidance that can help them obtain the skills needed to land an entry level position. “The kinds of professional relationships developed through PrePro will be invaluable when these mentees are ready to launch their careers,” says PrePro co-organizer Gloria Pitagorsky, President of AICE’s New York Chapter and EP and Managing Director of audio post studio Heard City.

PrePro’s inaugural session, which kicked off in New York this past January, saw approximately 20 students from high schools in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx paired with mentors from such companies as BANG Music, Big Sky Edit, Blast, Bodega Studios, Butter Music & Sound, COPILOT Music + Sound, Cutters, Exile Editorial, Freefolk, Groove Guild, Heard City, Human Music and Sound Design, KYLE, Northern Lights, PS 260, The Mill and Uppercut.

Jon Desir, Executive Producer at Optimus in Chicago and co-organizer of the program, is heading up the expansion of PrePro to Chicago for the upcoming session, working with Optimus Producer Terra Zenteno. He notes that the PrePro committee is in discussion with Free Spirit Media, a non-profit group that provides arts education, access, and opportunity in media production to over 700 underserved youth in Chicago every year. Simultaneously, Desir is working to build a roster of potential mentors from Chicago-area post and music studios. (For more on the benefits of being a mentor, click here.)

“After our successful first run in New York, Chicago is ready to follow suit,” says Desir.  “Growing a more diverse talent base for the post production and advertising music and sound industries is needed now more than ever. We’re confident there’s going to be tremendous support in our community and in various communities outside of post that are related to production overall.”

Commenting on the program’s value to mentors and companies, Marlene Bartos, Managing Director of Yessian Music in New York, past National President of AMP and a PrePro mentor herself, notes that “this is such a positive program for our community. We can give a young person a chance to discover all the wonderful opportunities in our industry and have a positive impact, while also bringing in new and diverse talent. It’s a win/win for all parties.”

For more information on PrePro, contact Alex Shannon at prepro@aice.org.

About AICE
AICE (www.aice.org) is the marketing communications post production association whose members are independent creative editorial, design, visual effects, color grading, audio and finishing companies. It is dedicated to the advancement and promotion of these companies and the essential role their artists and producers play in the media creation process. With chapters in Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, San Francisco, Texas and Toronto, AICE maintains a strong collective voice in the commercial advertising and marketing industry.

About AMP
The Association of Music Producers (www.ampnow.com) was founded in 1998 for the purpose of educating its members, as well as members of the production, advertising and media communities, on all facets of the music business, from creation and acquisition to final use. AMP is dedicated to raising awareness of and appreciation for the value of music and sound to all broadcast content in all media.