Fine Arts Career Services

My EPK is finaly done! It took about two weeks to film and edit and now it is done for all to see. I am so pumped and so humbled by all the people that help make this happen. It was truly an honor to work with them and I appreciate them so much! I will be showing it in class next tuesday and I am so excited to see what the response it on it. It was challenging but definitely a rewarding experience. So many learning curves throughout the project that can only be taught hands on. Last friday we started the recording process of this internship. It was so fun, playing with all the different mics, fine tuning the song, laying down the tracks, both guitar and vocal. (Just that day we laid down guitar and vocal, drums and bass soon to follow!) It was really interesting how studio sound can make such a difference in the tone and quality of the voice. I have done studio work in the past and have been able to use some of those techniques that I have learned and now apply it to this project. It still amazes me how much you learn about yourself when you are in the studio because you are really hearing YOUR sound. Those mics are super sensitive and they catch everything. Every shimmer, every flaw, everything! Very humbling as well. I am excited for whats to come and can’t wait to see/hear the final project!

This week at CAG I am filming an EPK. An EPK stands for electronic press kit, which is basically a resume for artists, or a preview for a movie. They are normally used when an upcoming artist it promoting their album when it is about to be released. What it entales is a biography, tour dates, photos, press releases, even a look into the songs that are going to be on the upcoming album. This week I am getting alot of stuff together to film this. I have an advertising major from the University of Texas helping me with this project. Ramy wanted me to work with the resources around me and network and so I found him to help me. We are filming on wednesday which should be so fun. This is really opening my eyes to understand that its not just about the music it takes alot of other elements to make this whole thing happen. I am defnitely learning the right skills to learn how this industry works.

This week at Creative Arts Group we are still in the process of songwriting. We currently have two songs and are needing at least two or three more to put out an E.P. as my project. My goal this week is to put in an hour of songwriting time in a day to just get the juices flowing and hope that something will come of it. This is where it can get tricky because you get antsy about what is to come but if you don’t have a song then the others won’t come. I believe our time line is to have a writing circle soon and then start recording on Fridays probably looking at November. It is truly exciting to live out this process and what really lies within the life of an artist. This experience is teaching me and growing me and giving me tools to help my career as a student as well as an artist.

This week as the past weeks is still all about songwriting. There are so many depths to songwriting and you never quite know how long it is going to take to finish a song. Songwriting pulls from so many different places,  emotions, life experiences, friendships, other peoples experiences. Sometimes it will take 15 minutes to write a song sometimes it can take a year. The cool thing is that inspiration can strike at any moment! Once I was on a trip to Mexico and I saw a little girl playing by herself when all the other kids were playing together and I wrote a song about it. I have written alot of songs right before I fall asleep, or after a change in my life happened or a new relationship started or ended so I always have a notebook and a pen and some type of recorder to just write down ideas or a hook or some catchy lyrics and then go back later on and see if theres something there. Something that songwriting teaches is that you learn alot about yourself, and sometimes you write a song that was really meant for you and not for anyone else. Just like journaling or when people write poetry it can be very healing and it expresses how you feel on a completely different level. Some songs make you want to get up and dance all night long and then others make you cry and draw you in. Its just the way of the artist and how much you can relate to the artist and visa versa. The broader the circumstance the more people can relate and put their own personal stories in that particular song.

This week at Creative Arts Group we are in the beginning stages of making a record. Right now I am meeting with my mentor and coming up with song ideas, some good and bad, right now we are two so far that are possibilities for the E.P. which is so exciting! The goal is to have about 6-8 songs to choose from and then record a 4 song E.P. out of them. The goal right now is that in about two weeks we will start laying down the “meat and potatoes” as they call it which is a very rough take of what the song will be like and then build the track from there. I am so excited to see what these songs end up sounding like and really understanding the process of what it takes to start from nothing, write songs, record them, and then the final product. Definitely easier said then done but so exciting to say the least.

So not only with creating and following through with this event, another student and I have started a new organization based on using creatives passions. We are offering opporunities for students to get involved in the music industry, whill still attending school. Personally, I have been going through the process of coordinating events, and getting people/connections for future events. We have made some really big connections not only here in Austin, but else where like LA and Miami. We want to not only bring artists in that the students and community will enjoy, but also give students that are interested in pursueing a musical career the chance for an opportunity. I believe the singer songwriter event will happen every year, yet the genre of music will change, and the business we partner with will change. Not only growing our connections as an individual and organization but allowing students to continue with their dreams and passions. Latley, I have been thinking about artist management more and more. I keep coming across the issue of how people in the music business world cant relate/understand the artist due to the lack of creativity or artistic nature of the business man. I have been thinking about ways to personally change that, and create a bridge between this problem so that artists are presented with creative ways of getting their things taken care of, and allow the business to still be able to count on the artist to get these things accomplished.

So not only with creating and following through with this event, another student and I have started a new organization based on using creatives passions. We are offering opporunities for students to get involved in the music industry, whill still attending school. Personally, I have been going through the process of coordinating events, and getting people/connections for future events. We have made some really big connections not only here in Austin, but else where like LA and Miami. We want to not only bring artists in that the students and community will enjoy, but also give students that are interested in pursueing a musical career the chance for an opportunity. I believe the singer songwriter event will happen every year, yet the genre of music will change, and the business we partner with will change. Not only growing our connections as an individual and organization but allowing students to continue with their dreams and passions. Latley, I have been thinking about artist management more and more. I keep coming across the issue of how people in the music business world cant relate/understand the artist due to the lack of creativity or artistic nature of the business man. I have been thinking about ways to personally change that, and create a bridge between this problem so that artists are presented with creative ways of getting their things taken care of, and allow the business to still be able to count on the artist to get these things accomplished.

So, for the most part everything is on schedule for the event. We are finalizing poster ideas this afternoon and printing them off tonight. Thus everyone should start seeing  advertisement for the event very soon. We have set up an agreement with the Daily Texan so an article will be written about our organization, and the event. We are going to get some ready time on KUT, and with the internet, and all the free opportunities on campus I think advertisment will be successful. We have come in contact with many students that are ready to help, so in the future there will be some amazing things happening on campus. I now see that there is alot more work that goes into event planning then I guess I actually knew. Yet for me too see something go from the beginning ideas to actually happen is a lesson worth the while. I learned many different processes of getting things done, and how to organize each aspect of the event. Whether that be sound, advertisement, contracts, public relations, and so forth I was involved. The biggest struggle with the event in my mind, was  coordinating the designs for posters/logos for the event. Each person had their own take on things, but I personally always found something wrong. Also I have made more conections to people, which will help me tremendously in the future with my career.

With the date fast approaching, there are many things that have to be done. We are bringing in judges that have done some amazing work with U2, Mandy Moore, Spoon, and many others. Mayor Brewester is also going to speak at the beginning of the event, because he is a large supporter of the arts, and an avid guitar player. There are many small details that I have to take care of, like reservations, contracts, and the issue of voting. We have decided to split the voting, giving the judges 50% and the fans 50%. The fans will have to go online summit their email to be able to vote, which gives AEU a large source of emails for publicity. If there is a dead even tie, the winner will be decided by the executive directors of AEU, and executivce director of CAG. We have alot of time taken up by advertisement. Creating posters and flyers to hand out, presenting at other organizations, talking to schools within UT to send out emails, and connecting with UT’s radio station for hopefully a few minutes to speak about what we are doing on campus. There are alot of people that are excited about what we are doing, and I think if we portray ourselves in a good way this first go around, then we will be successful. People will see the difference we are making, and we as students will have made something worthwhile.

This week wasn’t to busy for which I am glad for. I know that the next month is going to be really crazy, and I wont get any alone time, yet I have realized thats what it is going to take for me to succeed in anything. This week has been more of a waiting time, waiting for the ok for the organization, waiting for designer’s logo ideas, and just waiting for next week. This week has been more of a research time also, I have looked at the behind scenes of different organization and I have seen how they work, and the mistakes they have made. The other executive director and I have also made connections with other major organizations with hopes to work with them in the future. We have also clarified most of the specifics of what we can and cannot do as studnets on campus. For next week, my goal will be to set a date for the events coming, schedule all the equipment, get judges for the event, and start organizing the layout of how each event will be run. Although there are some events that are similiar to what we are doing, I think the connections and prizes we are offering are beyond what others have been offering. I believe seeing people that are successful in what they do, and realizing they want to help support others dreams, with that you cannot fail.