Chance the Rapper Announces Summer Music Program for Chicago Kids
By Wren Hagge
CHICAGO (CBS) — Newly crowned BET Humanitarian Award winner Chance the Rapper is proving his devotion to his hometown of Chicago once again.
The hip-hop star is giving 75 Chicago children the opportunity to take audio mastering classes this summer through an alliance between his nonprofit, SocialWorks, and LANDR Music. The program will be part of Kids of the Kingdom (KOK) Summer Music Academy.
In a tweet on Tuesday, Chance revealed he'll be offering the course to aspiring young musicians. Chance hopes the Summer Music Academy will "provide students in Chicago the necessary tools to tell their stories to the world."
Proud to announce that @SocialWorks_Chi in partnership with @LANDR_music are offering audio mastering classes this summer to 75 kids.
— Lil Chano From 79th (@chancetherapper) June 6, 2017
The Chicago native co-founded SocialWorks last year with the goal of "empowering the youth through the arts, education, and civic engagement." He views the summer program as another step in working to ensure "every voice gets heard."
The course will be an addition to Kids of the Kingdom (KOK), a long-standing Chicago program which, according to the SocialWorks website, "provides an outlet for recreation and socialization for Chicago youth during the summer through interactive events, field-trips, and lesson plans."
Registration for KOK is on a first-come, first-served basis. Children from 15 months to 12 years old can participate. KOK is a free program, though field trips are additional.
"During the course of our seven-week program, students will be exposed to a variety of dynamic on-site lessons mixed with weekly field-trips, giving the children a voice through socialization and spiritual expression," according to KOK's description of the Summer Music Academy. Enrollment has already begun, and the program will run from June 26 to August 11.
The Summer Music Academy is in partnership with LANDR Music, an online engineering software that provides affordable and professional audio editing and mastering. The startup's mission is to "make better sound, better creating, and more music accessible to millions more."
To celebrate 1 million creators we teamed up with @chancetherapper's @SocialWorks_Chi to support future musicians: https://t.co/CT5Vms3yDP pic.twitter.com/52fMPbHDL1
— LANDR (@LANDR_music) June 6, 2017
For a limited time, LANDR will also donate $1 for every new user and 10% of its total purchases to SocialWorks.
Chance says of his partnership with LANDR, "Together, we'll shape the musicians of tomorrow, by supporting the kids today."