The GRAMMY Museum has announced a new program designed to offer highschool students an opportunity to showcase their musical talents on stage at the GRAMMY Museum. The Student Showcase program will feature high school musical acts from Los Angeles and elsewhere in Southern California, performing in a variety of genres.
Kicking off the Museum’s GRAMMY Week 2024 programming, these solo performers, bands and groups will perform at the Student Showcase Finale on Saturday, Jan. 27 from 6 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. PT. The event will be held in the Museum's Clive Davis Theater.
Student Showcase artists and bands include Zharia Amel, Kieler Avery, Maya Delgado, DIONE, HEDY, Honeybee, Iris Le, Kayla Pincus, SPARK, Sam Sweeney, Matias Villasana, and What Can I Say? This inaugural program has been made possible due to the generous support of The Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris Foundation.
Ahead of the actual showcase, students will participate in panel discussions focusing on careers in music, content creation, and stage presence, as well as receive real time feedback from industry professionals during rehearsals. Guest panelists include A.D. Johnson (Founder, Chosen Musicians), Amanda Verdadero (Production Manager, Kia Forum), Candace Newman (CEO & founder, Live Out L!ve), Cisco Adler (musician and record producer), Grecco Buratto (musician and composer), Nirupam “Niru” Pratapgiri (Artist Manager, Red Light Management), Omar Akram (composer and pianist), and Taji Hardwick (Talent Buyer, Goldenvoice).
Participants will also work with the Museum’s production team to understand what it takes to produce a live event — from staging and lighting direction, to managing the soundboard and video production.
The Student Showcase Finale will be free, open to the public, and live streamed so the performers can reach a wider audience. In addition, participants will receive their performance footage for their social media channels and get tips on content creation and branding.
The GRAMMY Museum, currently celebrating its 15th anniversary, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to celebrating and exploring music from yesterday and today to inspire the music of tomorrow through exhibits, education, grants, preservation initiatives, and public programming. Paying tribute to our collective musical heritage, the Museum values and celebrates the dynamic connection in people’s diverse backgrounds and music’s many genres, telling stories that inspire us, and creative expression that leads change in our industry.
Kenneth T. Norris and Eileen L. Norris believed they had an obligation to give back to the community and in 1963 The Kenneth T. & Eileen L. Norris Foundation was created with $9,140. They initially focused their grantmaking on two key areas: medicine and private education in Southern California. It was their belief that concentrating the Foundation’s resources would allow its gifts to have the greatest impact. They instilled in their son, Kenneth T. Norris, Jr. the same dedication to philanthropy, and he took over as chairman of the Foundation in 1972, after his father’s death. Throughout the years the Norris Foundation continued to allocate large portions of its resources to medicine and education but also encompassed a broader range of organizations – one that also includes community and youth programs, science and the arts.
In each program area the Norris Foundation has shaped the results, producing a pattern of giving designed to encourage, extend, reconfigure, or transform projects originating from a diverse assortment of nonprofit recipients. Harlyne J. Norris took over as chairman of the Foundation in 1997, after the death of her husband Kenneth T. Norris, Jr. In 2003, Harlyne passed the reins to her daughter Lisa D. Hansen who served as chair of the Board until her passing. In 2023, the Norris Foundation celebrated its 60th Anniversary and Walter J. Zanino was elected chairman of the Board. Since 1963, we have created partnerships with many different organizations that we still collaborate with today. We count our longstanding relationships as one of our most valued assets. We are very proud of our history and look forward to the future with optimism.
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