Baltimore nonprofit launching music biz internship program

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Dec 1, 2004 by Kara Kridler

A Baltimore nonprofit group hopes a new program will help the city's high school students develop business skills while learning about the entertainment industry.

Team Urban Inc., an educational organization designed to promote business and law to high school students, is kicking off the first Battle for Baltimore music business internship program on Saturday.

The program's founder and the president of Team Urban, Omar Simpson, said his goal is to teach young people how a business runs while presenting optimism to students in a school system that has suffered from violence this year.

The city's high school kids have been though a lot so far this year, Simpson said. It has been a rough year starting with the financial crisis and then all of the recent violence. - I really want this to be something that kids can look forward to.

Simpson, an attorney who focuses on the entertainment industry, said he chose to aim the program at the music industry to give the kids a voice and a way to vent their frustrations.

Students from more than 30 of the city's public high schools will set up their own record labels under Simpson's guidance.

The program is not only for music performers, he said. Each school needs a management team to market its label and provide distribution and promotions. - It includes the entire business process, so it involves a lot of teamwork and leadership skills as well.

Each school will vote on one act to represent it in the competition. Simpson described this as a NCAA March Madness-type tournament.

The winners of the tournament will get to put together a CD and go on an actual concert tour to colleges and universities in the area, Simpson said. The two-month college tour will start in March.

Students will perform on weekend days at colleges in Maryland, Washington, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Delaware.

School participants that excel in the program and on the tour will have a chance to perform in front of representatives from major record labels - the ultimate goal, Simpson said. We have already arranged it - major record labels will see and review the best acts.

The schools have been very responsive to the program, he added.

So far the schools love the idea, especially because music and arts programs have been cut due to funding cutbacks, Simpson said. This is a way to supplement that and to get the kids to do something artistic while teaching them about business.

Patterson High School in East Baltimore has a long list of students who have signed up for the program, said Ray Gagne, director of music for the school.

The kids are really excited about this, he said. The students interested in the management team have been holding meetings in the morning before school, Gagne said.

I told them, 'Even if you're not a performer, you have a big part to play,' he said.

Ultimately, it is a chance for students to sing and play music for people outside of the school, he said. Regardless of the outcome, we will learn a lot about the music business and if even if we don't make it to the end, we will still be better next year, he said.

It's good to know that nonprofits are stepping up and helping our students find new outlets and career options, said Raquel Guillory, a spokeswoman for Mayor Martin O'Malley. The mayor has long been a proponent of helping kids channel their creativity toward positive opportunities.