BRINGING OPPORTUNITY TO OUR STUDENTS PT.2
THIS PROJECT WAS MADE possible BY THE BOBBY STONE FOUNDATION AND THE CITY OF CHATTANOOGA
BY KESSLER CUFFMAN
Executive Director of Dynamo Studios
On October 23, 2022 we rented a huge cabin on the side of a mountain and brought a collection of highly accredited music producers and songwriters to Chattanooga. Their success ranges from loads of platinum and diamond records to loads of Grammy nominations and awards. Here is what happened for our students:
MUSIC IS THAT ONE THING EVERY PERSON ON THE PLANET HAS IN COMMON.
Click the video below to hear from multi platinum and multi grammy nominated producer Bridgez about how he got started in music as a kid and what it was like working with our students!
Through community partnership, Dynamo Studios empowers students and creatives through innovative and exciting educational experiences built around music production and the arts
Please consider supporting our students by joining the team and giving today!
The teams we brought in to work with the kids bring a wide variety of experience to the table for our students.
Click the vid below to hear from multi platinum artist manager about his experience with the students!
Like with all opportunities that our organization capitalizes on, everything always goes back to the students. This producer camp in particular represented a great opportunity to showcase what Dynamo hopes to accomplish in Chattanooga: We want to see our city become a hub for the music industry so that our students are provided with constant opportunities to work with the best of the best. This camp put kids at multiple schools in the same room as multi platinum and diamond record selling grammy nominated music producers and songwriters.
At most producer/writer camps, the music is being created super early in the morning or late in the evening. But rather than hanging out during typical work day hours, our writers and producers went to go spend time at a variety of local schools partnered with Dynamo Studios. While at the schools, the industry partners spent time coaching and creating with the students.
“I feel like you really get to be who you want to be at this school. This is really inspiring stuff!”
During the school days, we were able to get a few teams out to Dalewood Middle School, Howard Connect Academy, and a local community center to work with the students. At Connect, producers collaborated with students creating beats + new arrangements of music and talked about life in the music industry. A group of writers had the chance to speak with every single 8th grade student at the school about being a writer for major artists and how the students’ work in school translates to opportunities in the future.
The visit to Dalewood Middle School was uniquely special because we were visiting their brand new production space! Dynamo partnered with the school to launch their new production program as a part of their career clusters model that promotes workforce development. The students had the chance to ask loads of questions and show off their work to our team of producers.
The invitee list included writers and producers for Justin Bieber, Kanye West, H.E.R., Chris Brown, Lil Wayne, SZA, Khalid, Drake, Post Malone, Tory Lanes, Snoop Dogg, Eric Bellinger, Nick Jonas, DJ Khaled, Kehlani, etc etc. These teams have loads of platinum records, gold records, and even a couple diamond records to their names (in addition to loads of grammy nominations).
As a result of these industry pros investing in the students (between this camp and all of the other programs we run), participating students are better equipped to enter directly into the workforce or collegiate programs because they are regularly involved with programming that connects them with these opportunities regularly. Our programs help them build the strongest portfolios and resumes in the city when compared to other third party edu organizations. Producer and writer camps like this will continue to play a critical role in bolstering our students’ portfolios and experiences for years to come!
Although the main goal of a camp, in the simplest sense, was to crank out as much high quality music as possible, this camp represented so much more than the music itself. It represented the start of a movement in Chattanooga. You see, when I first started mapping out the camp, I set out to answer three very important questions through carrying out the camp:
What does bringing this sort of talent to Chattanooga do for our city?
What does this opportunity do for local producers and writers?
What does this opportunity do for the students we serve? (If you are new to Dynamo, this is the primary focus of our organization) ***
This camp marked the start of a movement that will open life changing doors for our local music community well beyond the walls of our city and create opportunities for major producers and writers to begin working in Chattanooga.
MORE TO COME IN THE NEAR FUTURE!
