2012 |
INCEPTIONUpbeat Academy Foundation was founded in late-2012 in memoriam of two lost friends — Winter Circle Productions’ Jeff Milne (26) and MCP Presents’ Patrick Edwards (31) — seeking a dual purpose of immortalizing their memory and serving the community. Each young man was a stable in his local community’s music culture boasting an infectious creativity and positivity that motivated dozens of friends to find their passion. Over the years, Upbeat Academy has been grateful for the ability to honor Jeff and Patrick’s legacy and families by empowering young people through the power of modern music education.
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2013 - 2014 |
EARLY YEARSUpbeat Academy first started programming in 2013 at the Boys & Girls Club in New Orleans in partnership with NFL YET. After growing to three classes and hiring Matthew Zarba (Mr. Z) as its Director, Upbeat Academy opened up its own studio in the back of the Winter Circle Productions (“WCP”) office.
Since 2013, Upbeat has enjoyed a partnership with WCP’s BUKU Music + Art Project. In addition to funding a large part of Upbeat’s operating budget, every year BUKU provides Upbeat student-artists with the opportunity to perform on stage at the festival and meet their favorite artists including Kendrick Lamar, Nas, A$AP Rocky, Chance The Rapper and Run The Jewels. |
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2015 - 2016 |
COMMUNITY PROGRAMMING BEGINSAfter the first few years working with the core Upbeat students in the studio, Mr.Z and the Upbeat instructors seized an opportunity to bring Upbeat to the community. In 2015, Upbeat Academy began its first off-site programming, partnering with the New Orleans Public Library, ReNEW Accelerated High School, Upturn Arts, Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights and the NET Charter School, providing music production community workshops and for-credit music classes. Many of Upbeat’s first and most consistent students stemmed from these early programs.
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2017 - 2019 |
NEW STUDIO, NEW PARTNERSAs the Upbeat Academy studio grew, so did its community programs. In 2018, Upbeat Academy began its partnership with the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation and moved the Upbeat studio to the George & Joyce Wein Jazz & Heritage Center.
In 2017, Upbeat expanded its programming to serve students currently incarcerated at the Travis Hill School at the Juvenile Justice Intervention Center and the Orleans Justice Center, providing year-round music education programs. With the help of a van facilitating the transportation of equipment funded by A Big Gigantic Difference Foundation grant, Upbeat Academy has been able to expand its programming to the Center for Resilience, the Trinity Community Center, Covenant House and Son of a Saint. In 2019, Upbeat partnered with Positive Vibrations to bring the Upbeat programming to Fondation Sainte Cecile Ecole de Musique in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. Student-artists participated in a 7-day intensive music production course and recorded their orchestral instruments over electronic beats using Macbooks, monitors, an audio interface and Ableton powered by a generator. It was the first time the students heard recordings of their music. |
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2020 |
PRESENT DAYUpbeat Academy recently expanded its programming to include Upbeat Schools, a for-credit modern education program, in New Orleans area schools beginning with bi-weekly classes at McDonough 35 Senior High School and the Living School. Pre-COVID, Upbeat Academy was reaching over 100 students per week in its studio and across its many community programs. After Upbeat’s operations were cut short in March 2020 due to COVID, Upbeat began offering its students access to its curriculum online via Twitch. Throughout the summer of 2020, Upbeat Academy has been in a phase of both transition — working to flip its curriculum online for the Fall 2020 semester and provide its students with the necessary hardware and software — and growth, including hiring fundraising and marketing staff, forming an Advisory Council and partnering with Freewater on a new course offering teaching graphic design, photography, videography and brand management.
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