Education Notes: Belmont University, The Blackbird Academy, SAE Institute

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 carma@theblackbirdacademy.com

Belmont University Students Launch Songwriter Management Organization

Bear House Writer Management members with Warner/Chappell EVP, Ben Vaughn, at a meeting this past November.

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

Rick Franklin

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.