ASCAP Celebrates GPS Project Class of 2013

The Bluebird Café set the stage to showcase the talents of the ASCAP Guidance from Publishers for Songwriters (GPS) Project recently for the organization’s class of 2013. The 14 participants performed one song “in the row” to a sold-out crowd and included songwriters Jillian Arciero, Brittany Aultman, Bonner Black, Brian Burke, Jeston Cade, Chris Drizen, Kris Hitchcock, Jonathan Kingham, Anthony Olympia, Sony/ATV songwriter James Ryan, Dara Sisterhen, Austin Taylor Smith, Sarah Allison Turner and Keith Walker.
Sea Gayle recording artist Brent Rupard, a member of the inaugural ASCAP GPS class in 2011, and UMPG songwriter Ryan Hurd, a GPS class of 2012 participant, closed out the round with a few songs to showcase the project’s success. Since its creation in 2011, the ASCAP GPS Project has been fundamental in the signing of over a dozen songwriters to publishing agreements.
ASCAP’s Ralph Murphy took the stage mid-show to announce that GPS member Kris Hitchcock will be presented with The ASCAP Foundation Leon Brettler Award at the Foundation’s annual awards gala in December in New York City. The honor, previously awarded to ASCAP GPS Project graduate Rupard, is presented to an outstanding songwriter-performer participating in an ASCAP Foundation Songwriters Workshop.
The ASCAP GPS Project is an initiative created in 2011 to match up-and-coming songwriters with some of the most talented publishers on Music Row. Created by ASCAP Nashville Membership co-head LeAnn Phelan and Creative Manager Ryan Beuschel, the ASCAP GPS Project, now in its third year, has quickly become one of Nashville’s most valuable songwriter development tools.