Amazon Music, Recording Academy Collab to Benefit HBCU Students

Baltimore — For the third consecutive year, The Recording Academy^®'s Black Music Collective and Amazon music are teaming up to provide HBCUs mentorship, scholarships and other opportunities. 

Students who are music enthusiasts will have the opportunity to fully immerse and network with leaders in the industry, as well as partake in the overall program. Five students will be selected to be a part of the 2023 cohort and will receive a $10,000 scholarship. The Collective and Amazon are doing one better by donating $10,000 to two HBCUs to help get equipment for their music department.

Over the past few years has been so inspiring to watch companies that we know pour into HBCUs, especially when it comes to the arts. It is also amazing that there is an effort to sustain these life saving opportunities for HBCU students and I hope that it continues.

As a graduate of Clark Atlanta University, and a current student at Morgan State University, I know just how important these programs are for students.

“To me HBCU students and graduates being recognized by large companies is long overdue. Companies pouring into HBCU students and arts is extremely important. The students have the intelligence and expertise to succeed in any field, but they are tremendously overlooked and are products of underfunded institutions,” said Danni Harris, a senior Mass Media Arts student at Clark Atlanta University. 

Bands and music are the hearts of HBCUs, they help to maintain so much of the life and culture on campus. Investing in student’s futures truly opens so many doors, they allow opportunities that may be once in a lifetime!

“At HBCUs there are a lot of striving artists but no real resources on campus. I attend Tuskegee University and the only music program we have here is choir and band so any student that wants to record a song would have to find a studio off campus which isn’t really safe. So this program is a step in the right direction. I recently heard about E40 donating a studio to Grambling University so I love to see all these good things coming towards colleges in the south. Also as a recording artist I think it is an another branch of hope, another opportunity that may bring me and my peers closer to our goals,” said Angelo Burrell, a Sophomore Communication major at Tuskegee University. 

If you are an HBCU student pursuing a bachelor's degree in music or a related field, please apply. The application closes on April 28 and the recipients will be announced on May 8.