Features
JMBLYA Dallas To Bring HoB Music Forward ‘All Access’ Student Workshop, Festival Tour
Blake Rabe / @blakefilms. – All Access
the ScoreMore team with students during a JMBLYA event in partnership with U Got This.
The House of Blues Music Forward Foundation is bringing an All Access educational workshop to Dallas hip-hop and electronic music festival JMBLYA, where there will be a panel with industry leaders, an educational tour of the festival and 300 free tickets incentivizing high school students to meet educational goals such as keeping good grades and filling out a FAFSA application.
The May 3 festival features Travis Scott, Lil Wayne, Kevin Gates and many others at Fair Park in Dallas, Texas. (On May 4 the same lineup plays JMBLYA at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.)
As part of the All Access program, 20 students from Carter High School have been selected for a tour of the festival May 2, where they get a behind the scenes look at music festival production including talent buying, venue operations, marketing and ticketing.
Carter High School was selected through the new Beyond the Classroom initiative, a collaboration between Big Thought and the Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs in which students from disadvantaged communities are provided opportunities to visit and collaborate with local artists and businesses that focus on diverse expressions of the arts.
“We understand the academic pathway that a lot of young people take but we also know that some 30% of this year’s graduating seniors won’t go straight into college, and that number keeps ticking up,” Music Forward Foundation executive director Nurit Siegel Smith told Pollstar. “The music industry really is one that can help young people find their professional footing.”
JMBLYA and Music Forward will co-host a music industry panel discussion with For The Students, an organization that produces speaking tours designed to educate college students interested in pursuing music careers.
The May 2 panel discussion will feature prominent speakers including festival promoter ScoreMore Shows President Sascha Guttfreund, Blueprint Group / Maverick Co-CEO Cortez Bryant, Above Ground Entertainment founder David Ali, and ScoreMore Shows social media director Madisyn Holland.
Participating high school students will attend and the event, which will be open to local college students and the general Dallas community free of charge.
The Dallas market is an important one for the program, according to Siegel Smith.
“The kids that are going to be going through this program, particularly in Dallas in a couple weeks, family income is less than 30,000, and it is 100% youth of color, with 50% African-American and 50% Latino,” she said. “These are underrepresented voices in the industry. Music Forward puts our resources into building that equity for all young people.”
House Of Blues’ Music Forward Foundation focuses on people ages 12-22 in underrepresented communities, setting the stage for success with workshops and showcases to inspire the next generation of industry leaders and innovators.
Recently acquired by Live Nation, Austin-based ScoreMore Shows is a noted hip-hop and festival promoter, having just staged the first Dreamville Festival April 6 in Raleigh, N.C., which sold out with more than 40,000 fans, featuring and curated by J. Cole who has a longstanding relationship with ScoreMore.
Brandon Todd / @branndannart – Dreamville Festival
produced by ScoreMore Shows.
The team also produced the first-year Astroworld Festival in Houston for hometown rapper Travis Scott, who is also playing JMBLYA.
With recent efforts for more diversity and better inclusion in the music and concert industries, including Live Nation urban’s recent announcement of a “Femme It Forward” speaking series featuring Cardi B, Kali Uchis, Endeavour’s Bozoma Saint John and many others, Siegel Smith says the call for change is coming from all levels of the industry.
“There’s an invigoration that I think is coming from not only the top but also the bottom,” she said. “It’s coming from a lot of the staff internally, who are saying we want to do more and get involved. I get phone calls from folks [at Live Nation] saying how can I help you? We want to get involved and find opportunity to do some social good.”
Music Forward’s other programs the 2019 Bringing Down The House emerging talent showcase, which aims to connect musicians with industry leaders as well as various scholarships including a $10,000 Live Nation Concerts scholarship supporting students pursuing careers in concert and venue promotion, sponsorship and advertising, ticketing, e-commerce and artist management.
There’s also the All Access Career Festival that includes workshops, panel discussions, academic opportunities and more taking place in Chicago, Las Vegas, New Orleans and Los Angeles. Siegel Smith said Orlando is being added for 2019.