Johannesburg - Popular music corporation Warner Music Africa has announced its student ambassador programme, called Culture Shifters, in collaboration with various South African universities and colleges.
The programme is centred on opening up the industry and creating opportunities for students hoping to get into it.
Creative lead at Warner Music Africa, Garth Brown, shared details about the programme, revealing the company heeded the call by young artists to open up the industry.
"The programme comes in response to the difficulty for art students to gain citable experience for their portfolios and bridge the experience gap within the creative industry. The programme heeds the call by young artists to ‘open up the industry’, by allowing students to bypass gatekeepers and gain insight into the inner workings of the leading record labels. As a record label, we know that young people and artists are at the heart of music and pop culture, and we want to support them in return through this programme.
"It is important for us to create opportunities for art students, therefore one of the main criteria is that we’re looking for second and third-year arts students. Students must be enrolled in a South African university or college based in Johannesburg. Applicants must have a passion for music and pop culture, have knowledge of or experience in content creation, and be comfortable with social media.
"The programme caters specifically to second and third-year art students, based in Johannesburg. This is to provide young, upcoming artists with an opportunity to grow their portfolio within the creative and entertainment industries. Second and third-year students are usually engaged in experiential learning during this stage of their studies, and it’s the best time to gain experience that can inform one's major and career choices going forward.
"The programme is currently open to all South African universities and colleges based in Johannesburg. This is because, for the pilot of the programme, we would actually like to host some of the students at our head offices, which are currently based in Johannesburg. As a company based in the creative and entertainment industry, the programme is also focused on creating opportunities for the humanities faculty and arts within this field."
Asked about his hopes, he said: "Although this year the programme is launching with 30 representatives across various South African universities and colleges, it is definitely our hope to extend our reach and offering alongside the growth of the programme. Culture Shifters is hopefully the first of many tertiary-based projects WMA will undertake," said Brown.
The Star