The Blackbird Academy Launches $5,000 Live Sound Engineering Scholarship

The Blackbird Academy is offering a $5,000 live sound engineering scholarship, open to all U.S. citizens and international students 18+. Applicants would need to be available to begin Blackbird Academy’s Live Sound Engineering program on April 6, 2015, and deliver all required paperwork by that time.

The program is a six-month program at The Blackbird Academy facilities in Nashville, TN. Those selected for the scholarship would be expected to pay the remaining tuition as well as housing/living expenses while attending The Blackbird Academy.

To receive the $5,000 scholarship, students would need to enroll no later than March 20, 2015 (U.S. Citizen) or no later than Feb. 20, 2015 (international students). For more information, call 855-385-3251 or email [email protected]

Belmont University Students Launch Songwriter Management Organization

Students from Belmont University’s Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business recently launched a songwriter management organization Bear House Writer Management, where writers are paired with student managers to maximize their songwriting and management potential.

The organization supports nine songwriters, including Devin Dawson who recently gained recognition after releasing a Taylor Swift mashup with Louisa Wendorff that was shared by Taylor herself. Bear House also works with SESAC Member Eric Burgett and Jilian Linklater who was selected as one of ASCAP’s Publishers for Songwriters (GPS) Class of 2015.

Bear House Writer Management’s roster also includes Bailee Rainwater, Emily Landis, Hannah Rand, Hunter Leath, Johnny Murphy, and Shawn Gough.

SAE Institute Nashville To Hold Benefit Concert

Nashville’s SAE Institute will hold a benefit concert for Rick Franklin, valedictorian of the August 2014 class, on Friday, Feb. 13 at The East Room in Nashville, beginning at 7 p.m. Funds raised at the event, titled Psychedelrick, will be used to pay for medical treatments for Franklin, who has been diagnosed with Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

Five regional acts are slated to perform at the event, including Ttotals, Penicillin Baby, The Mumzees, Harpooner, and The Jag.

“Rick was not only a stellar student at SAE Nashville, he was also selected among thousands of nationwide applicants to receive our prestigious Sonum Perfectum Scholarship,” says SAE Nashville Campus Director Lynn Dorton, who is donating a microphone kit to be auctioned off at Psychedelrick. “We’re hoping that he can recover quickly so he can get back into the studio and deliver amazing results on his own projects and for clients.”

Franklin recently finished six rounds of chemotherapy at the Tennessee Oncology Center at Centennial Hospital, and will soon begin six weeks of radiation therapy.

A donations page has been set up at gofundme.com.

“Songcraft: Spotlight on Songwriters,” a new podcast highlighting in-depth conversations with successful songwriters, launched in January.

“Songcraft” is hosted by Paul Duncan and Scott B. Bomar. Duncan is a producer and ASCAP award-winning songwriter. Bomar is a Grammy-nominated writer, researcher and music historian. The show is aimed at not only songwriters, but pop culture enthusiasts, or as Duncan and Bomar describe them, “fellow music nerds.”

The inaugural episode featured Jim Peterik, founding member of Ides of March and Survivor. He has written or co-written 35 singles that landed on Billboard’s pop chart, including “Hold on Loosely” and “Eye of the Tiger.”

Other songwriters highlighted include current Grammy nominee Brandy Clark, Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member Dallas Frazier, and Spooner Oldham, the keyboardist behind songs including “When A Man Loves A Woman” and “Mustang Sally,” and a writer on “Cry Like A Baby” and “I’m Your Puppet.”

Upcoming podcasts will feature Bill Anderson, Bobby Braddock, Buzz Cason, Jeff Cohen, Jeff Silbar, and more.

Streaming episodes can be heard at www.songcraftshow.com. The free podcast can also be accessed through the iTunes store. New episodes are released every three weeks.

Kings of Leon will headline an evening concert for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Music and Fan Festival on Wednesday, Feb. 11 at Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center.

The event will air live on various digital channels, including SI.com, time.com, people.com, ew.com, instyle.com, and The Daily Cut, beginning at 7 p.m. ET.

In addition to the Kings of Leon performance, an array of live music will be hosted at “Swimville” on Nashville’s Famous Lower Broadway on Feb. 11-12.

The two-day festival will feature music from Chris Young, Chris Stapleton, Will Hoge, A Thousand Horses, Holly Williams, Nikki Lane, firekid, Sugar & The Hi-Lows, Moon Taxi, Rayland Baxter, The Ettes, The Weeks, and more.

All “Swimville” events will be free and open to the public including all of the musical performances.

The schedule of performances is as follows:

 

Feb. 11:
11:15 a.m.-Will Hoge
12:15 p.m.-Nikki Lane
1:15 p.m.-Sugar & The Hi-Lows
2:15 p.m.-Chris Stapleton
3:15 p.m.-Holly Williams
4:15 p.m.-Moon Taxi

 

 

 

Feb. 12
11:15 a.m.-firekid
12:15 p.m.-A Thousand Horses
1:15 p.m.-Rayland Baxter
2:15 p.m.-The Ettes
3:15 p.m.-Chris Young
4:15 p.m.-The Weeks

 

The Housing Fund has received a $200,000 grant to support the development of lending products for the purchase, rehab and/or construction of housing and production space for artists in Nashville and Davidson County.

The Housing Fund is a community development financial institution (CDFI), which is a local lender dedicated to providing affordable lending to underserved markets. It was one of seven community lenders from across the country to receive a grant from the Kresge and Surdna Foundations.

Nashville is home to more than 40,000 creative workers but the booming economy means that affordable production space is quickly disappearing. The Housing Fund, in coordination with the Metro Nashville Arts Commission, will create an advisory committee to assist in the development of a loan pool for the purchase of affordable work or live/work space for the creative community.

“Musicians, artists, designers and creative entrepreneurs add the special sauce for our community,” said Jennifer Cole, Exec. Dir. of the Metro Nashville Arts Commission. “Increasingly, artisans and creative small business owners are challenged by finding affordable housing and production space. As a city, we must support those individuals who write the songs, make the belts and boots and design the things that make us Music City. The Make a Mark program will provide financing to artists and the creative community and will ensure that the artistic community will have an affordable, permanent stake in neighborhoods throughout Nashville and Davidson County.”

With over $21 million in assets, The Housing Fund has lent over $67 million, leveraging $415 million in private financing for more than 4,500 housing units and community development projects in the area.