GRAMMY U Partners With ASCAP For Educational Panel
By Erick Ruiz, GRAMMY U San Antonio Ambassador
On September 15, GRAMMY U teamed up with Velia Gonzalez, ASCAP Texas Representative, to host “ASCAP & GRAMMY U Presents: The Importance of Music in Film & TV 101” at San Antonio College’s Radio, Television, and Film building.
A few minutes before 5 p.m., event attendees began to gather inside the building, anxiously awaiting the start of the event. As the event progressed, event attendees were introduced to ASCAP’s Texas Representative Velia Gonzalez, Texas Chapter Board Member Carlos Alvarez, GRAMMY U Texas Chapter Representative Uwana Akpan, and GRAMMY U San Antonio Ambassador Erick Ruiz. The GRAMMY U representatives explained what being part of GRAMMY U meant, and what was possible for students inside the program. During the event’s networking mixer, guests were able to talk to the GRAMMY U reps about what they could benefit from becoming members, and were able to meet some of the panelists that would become the main focus of the latter half of the evening. The GRAMMY U team accepted new memberships, and began to give out raffle tickets for the night’s prize: two passes to GRAMMY Camp - SoundCheck with Taylor Swift.
Once the mixer was over, guests were invited into the building’s auditorium for the “Importance of Music in Film & TV 101” panel. Once inside, Velia Gonzalez, and her co-moderator, Nikki Young, started off the panel by introducing the night’s guests, which consistedof Jeff Jernigan-Associate Director of Film & TV Music for ASCAP, Yocel Alonso- Entertainment Attorney, Carl Thiel- ASCAP Music Composer, Janet Vasquez- San Antonio Film Commission, Rick Garcia- ASCAP Film Songwriter, Brian Black- Music Supervisor, and Veronica R. Hernandez- a representative for NALIP. The panel gave guests an inside look on how music plays an important part in film and television not only from a creative standpoint, but also from the administrative standpoint, to develop the programs we so admire. Once the panelists had finished telling the guests about all of the work they did, and after sharing personal experiences on how they entered the industry, guests had a chance to ask them specific questions. The panelists then to showed the guests a little of what they do by showcasing some of the work they had done.
The guests left elated, and were excitedly talking about how inspiring the event was. The event catered to over two hundred guests in all. Some guests even drove in from places outside of San Antonio. The event was a raving success. ASCAP and GRAMMY U’s main goal of bringing outstanding educational music programming to San Antonio was met that night. We would like to thank ASCAP for inviting GRAMMY U to be involved with this incredible event.
To view photos from this event, please go to the media gallery at http://www.grammy365.com/gallery/ascap-grammy-u-present-importance-music-film-tv-101.