*** ALL PHOTOS AND VIDEOS ON THIS PAGE were created by local students ***

WHAT WE ARE DOING IN SCHOOLS

At Dynamo, we are thrilled about how our work in Chattanooga has panned out. We engaged a massive number of students, equipped them with industry-leading skillsets, created top-tier career opportunities for them, and provided hundreds of hours of mentorship training. All of this in addition to leading professional development for teachers, opening a new teaching studio in a marginalized neighborhood, and expanding after-school programs to schools across our local district.

The past few years have been incredible and we are very excited to be moving into this next season stronger than ever!

At the start of the 2024-25 school year, Dynamo Studios plans to continue this work through funding and staffing four full-time teacher positions that will work between our full-time school partnerships as well as supporting our sponsored program partners. Additionally, one of these positions directs a robust mentorship program supporting students well beyond the classroom.

Chattanooga:

The full-time programs that Dynamo instructors directly lead take place in Chattanooga. Instead of going to a traditional music or art class, students at these schools go to our classes and receive credit. For a more detailed breakdown of specific program offerings, please review our ‘Preface’ page and our ‘Impact Model’ page.

Nashville and Atlanta

Our programs within Atlanta and Nashville fall under our sponsored program model. As the programs develop, we will hire full-time staff to support the work. These programs will still be full-time, but we are accomplishing our mission by partnering with the preexisting teachers at our partner schools. Through these partnerships, we are providing ongoing support, training, grant writing, direct instruction, and connecting kids with the industry. For more info, check out the ‘Sponsored Program Model’ section of our impact model.

HEAR FROM MULTI-PLATINUM AND GRAMMY-WINNING PRODUCER NEEDLZ ON WHY HE PARTNERS WITH DYNAMO

All in-school programs follow various teaching standards that we structure the classes/programs around (national arts media and A/V or the media and A/V CTE standards) so that students are able to receive credit for their time in these classes. Beyond our in-school-related arts classes, the Dynamo Studios teachers support after-school/extracurricular programming 4-5 days per week. Through this programming, we will impact roughly 4,000 participating students (1,050 in Chattanooga).

DUAL ENROLLMENT

We are very excited to announce that advanced students will be able to start receiving dual enrollment opportunities this year! This will allow for them to earn college credits as a part of their free public education!

OUR INVESTMENT IN THE COMMUNITY SO FAR

We have already led to over $1,000,000 in investment into Chattanooga schools over the past four years through funding full-time teaching positions, running full-time programs for 12 months each year, and purchasing production equipment for students. We’ve also supported and led to over $300,000 in funding for other education-focused projects we’ve facilitated in the community. Next school year, our total direct investment into our local schools is on track to cross the $2,000,000 mark.

THE MAGIC OF DYNAMO

What makes our programs so special is that we take learning well beyond the typical classroom experience. Participating students are paired with professional creatives in the community where they are able to apply what they have learned in a real-world professional setting.

Not only that, but we also bring in creatives to partner with teachers and students in their classrooms as well. This allows us to bridge the gap between the professional world and the academic world.

By putting industry-leading equipment in the hands of students and creating high-level opportunities for students to apply what they’ve learned in the real world, we are changing the trajectory of their lives.

IT’S MORE THAN SKILLS DEVELOPMENT. IT’S A LIFESTYLE!

Everyone always looks at what we do and focuses on the skills development side of things (don’t get us wrong that is very important), but the reality is that the skills development side of things is a means of achieving the end goal — LIFE CHANGE.

WE BELIEVE THAT THE MUSIC INDUSTRY IS A STRAIGHT LINE TO LIFE — WE ARE USING THE MUSIC AND CREATIVE INDUSTRIES AS OUR CATALYST TO EQUIP, EMPOWER, AND ELEVATE OUR STUDENTS.

It’s about facilitating a lifestyle of the hustle. The people that GRIND. The people with outrageous amounts of grit that outwork everyone else while taking full ownership of their future and success. We want to see an army of resilient kids that are positioned and equipped to take over whatever part of the world they choose to pursue.

This lifestyle is what separates artists and producers at the top of the industry from everyone else. They flat-out don’t quit and they pursue their passion and vision at all costs.

WHY YOU SHOULD SUPPORT DYNAMO STUDIOS PROGRAMMING

There are a lot of great reasons to support our work at Dynamo Studios. For one, we create life-changing opportunities for students on a regular basis with industry-leading professionals, we put industry-standard equipment in the hands of students, and we even helped open a school! — And most importantly we did all of this for FREE because we believe this program model is that important and we believe that it works that well.

The really cool part? This is part of our students’ free and public education. Students are arable to receive academic credit for their work with Dynamo too!

Even better yet, our core students’ grades are improving across the board, their behavior is improving, and their motivation to attend school is through the roof.

We are making a real difference here in Chattanooga and it’s all due to intentional strategic partnerships, robust learning models, mentorship, allocating high end resources/tech, and creating strong bridges for the community to be actively involved with our students’ academic lives.

IN ADDITION TO IN SCHOOL AND AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMS…

Mentorship is an essential component of achieving success in the music industry (and every other industry). It’s also been proven to successfully combat trauma and challenges encountered in adolescence. As a direct response to poverty and a drive to support the needs presented by the diverse student community that we serve, we will be staffing a full-time position to direct a robust mentorship program supporting students within and well beyond the classroom.

Students will be paired with creative industry professionals in the local community that will serve as mentors to the students. These mentors will support student mental health development and they will also be working with students on creating professional experiences where the students will apply what they've been learning in consistent professional settings.

Our Vision

We want to see our programs inspiring, empowering, and equipping students to not just be successful in the music industry, but also successful in life. 
We want to give them everything they need so that they become the next generation of elite professionals in the music industry, establishing Chattanooga as a hub for the creation of music and entrepreneurship.

PROGRAM AND PROJECT SUMMARY

The purpose of all of our programs is twofold. We use the music industry, and the creative industries contained within the music industry, to help students 1) reach Self Actualization and 2) advance their economic position because all programs are built around a workforce development model. In a nutshell -- we teach them a skillset and then we immediately create opportunities for them to apply and capitalize on those skill sets within the real world beyond the walls of a classroom environment.

In order to achieve those goals, Dynamo Studios will fund and staff four full time teacher positions to man our full-time and sponsored programs within Chattanooga and additional staff to man our sponsored programs in Nashville and Atalanta. There are various teaching standards that we will structure the classes/programs around (national arts media and A/V or the media and A/V CTE standards) so that students are able to receive credit for their time in these programs.  Beyond our in-school-related arts classes, the Dynamo Studios teachers and staff will be supporting after-school/extracurricular programming 4-5 days per week as well.

The reason we are supporting this selected line of schools is because we want to establish a consistent pipeline for students within their feeder pattern to learn this technology and industry from 7th grade all the way up till 12th grade when they graduate allowing them to enter directly into the workforce or pursue a college education. Theoretically, these students should be graduating with more experience than the average college grad in these specific focus areas.

Accessibility is of the utmost importance to our organization. We pride ourselves on being intentional about building the overwhelmingly vast majority of our programming around the needs of the inner city. Additionally, we have been very intentional about promoting opportunities for our female students because less than 5% of the professionals in the music industry are women. 

IMPACT PROJECTIONS

PROJECTIONS FOR THE 2024-25 SCHOOL YEAR

• 4,000+ students directly impacted (between Chatt, Nash, and ATL)

• Open one new music/media production studio space 

• 50 live audio video projects

• 1,700+ music/audio/media production classes

• 10+ major touring artist sessions with the students

• 100+ high-level professional opportunities for students

• 75+ photo libraries delivered to community partners and clients (all student-created)

• 25 high-level video projects (commercials, music videos, and mini-documentaries)

• 40+ artists/musicians directly supported through media creation (all student-created) (local and national touring artists)

• 15+ schools directly impacted by programming

DELIVERABLES

• A robust curriculum published and made available for ALL HCDE music, media, and art teachers!

• Robust student portfolios

• Published student work in local+national journals

• Printed and published media lookbooks

• A plethora of blogs and digital media assets

• Marketing plans for partner organizations collaborating with students content creators

• 10 high-level music videos for artists (local and national) produced by students

• A TON of recorded projects produced and engineered by students

WHERE WILL PROGRAMMING BE HAPPENING AND WHO ARE WE TARGETING FOR IMPACT?

All of our full-time in-school programming is slated for inner city schools where the student population is composed almost entirely of minority students. These programs are focused on the hyper-specific needs of students from historically marginalized communities. Please reference the preface page which lists all partner schools and breaks down our involvement with each (please note that we are also making plans to expand full-time programs to additional partner schools).

Our after-school programs are accessible to other people around the community, but even then many of those programs happen at our partner schools so that our inner-city students can continue/further their learning. In addition to after-school programming at our partner schools, we will be running programs at our teaching studio at the South Chatt Community Center in partnership with the City of Chattanooga.

Programs that happen outside of schools at partner locations are open for anyone above the age of 13 interested in growing/refining their craft.

Additionally, we will be working with local arts organizations to collaborate on programming and support their respective missions.

SAMPLE IMPACT DEMOGRAPHICS (Howard Schools)

HOWARD HIGH SCHOOL

• School Demographics

• 96.3% Minority Population

• 45.7% African American

• 50.6% Hispanic

• 1.7% White

• Student Population 1,120 total

• 49% Female

• 51% Male

• 100% Free or Reduced Lunch

Through community partnership, Dynamo Studios cultivates an innovative culture founded in music production that is essential for the sustained entrepreneurial growth of our city. You can make a difference.

If you are interested in making a financial contribution to support our programs, please reach out to Kessler Cuffman at (513)377-1293 / kcuffman@DynamoStudios.org

OR click the "Sponsor & Give" button below.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR CHECKING OUT WHAT WE ARE DOING FOR OUR COMMUNITY!