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Tag: Youth on Record

“Underground at the Showcase,” Youth-Produced Official Podcast of the Underground Music Showcase, Announces a Second Season

Season two of “Underground at the Showcase,” the official youth-produced podcast of the Underground Music Showcase (UMS), launches on January 30th on all podcast streaming platforms.

Season 2 Highlights:

  • Inside scoop: Hear candid conversations with top local artists who rocked UMS 2023, including Destino, Corsicana, Dandu, Horse Bitch, The White Moms, LOBO LARA, Fruta Brutal, iZCALLi, Grace Devine, Rootbeer Richie & The Reveille, Fuya Fuya and Dead Boyfriend.
  • Capturing the energy: Recorded live at the iconic HR Meininger Company during UMS 2023, bringing the festival energy to your ears.
  • Empowering youth: This project is powered by Youth on Record (YOR), UMS co-owner and provider of a year-round podcasting internship program for young creatives (18-24).

READ: Youth on Record Releases New Youth-Led, Youth-Produced Podcast: Youth on Rewind

This podcast emerged as a UMS project stewarded by YOR, who became a co-owner of the festival in March 2022. YOR runs a year-round podcasting internship program, teaching young creatives ages 18-24 skills in storytelling, production, interviewing and more. Underground at the Showcase is a project undertaken by these talented youth podcasters, who are being prepared for work in the growing podcast industry.

“The Underground at the Showcase podcast was an experience of a lifetime,” YOR intern Xavier Gauthier said. “It was so much fun getting to research and interview upcoming musicians from all over the world and local to Denver. We spoke with artists from all walks of life and each one brought an extremely unique energy and perspective to the table. Even now, I follow all the artists and bands on social media and streaming services to keep up with their latest projects. I hope to be featured on the podcast in the future, but until then I’m truly excited to even be a part of the process to create something so profound. It’s an inspiration to hear the challenges and journeys these artists took to get to where they are today. I’ll always take away the advice and knowledge given to us by such hardworking and passionate musicians we interviewed.”

YOR’s Youth Success Manager David Ladon is the executive producer of Generation Collaboration and supports all podcast interns as they learn the professional skills required to thrive in the audio arts and entertainment industry.

“I love that we are able to create this container of Underground at the Showcase, and then hand it over to the hosts and producers to make it their own,” Ladon said. “You definitely see their personalities shape the conversations. They are all musicians and you can see how they bring their own artistic lens to the conversations. In particular, the partnership between UMS and Youth on Record creates this unique opportunity for our interns to get professional experience while building their creative portfolio. One of the highlights for me this season is having Genevieve from Dead Boyfriend on the show. She was a podcasting intern at Youth on Record and hosted Season 1 of the podcast. We were just thrilled that she returned for season 2 as a guest. Also, the hip-hop trio The White Moms performed live, which was so much fun, and a first for this show.”

Listeners of Underground at the Showcase will hear candid conversations about songwriting, motivation, community, identity, mental health and more.

In their featured episode, Miguel Avina from iZCALLi opened up about the ways the trio has come into their own over the last fifteen years.

“At the beginning, we were just a Mexican band,” Avina said. “And anywhere we’d play, we’d be the Mexican band, and we’d be playing Cinco de Mayo and Dia de los Muertos…and even at the UMS were like the Mexican band…we owned that. We thought we were the best Mexican band…one day we just realized, hey, we don’t have to be ‘the Mexican band.’ We can be a great Denver band, and just be a band, and to keep expanding that idea that we don’t have to limit ourselves with that label…We still play those Cinco de Mayo shows and Dia de los Muertos, but it doesn’t define us anymore.”

You can find this podcast on all major platforms, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Overcast and Amazon Music.

 

About Youth on Record:

At Youth on Record, we believe that all young people, including those who are at-risk and written off, have the ability to turn their lives around. We are committed to ensuring that the youth we serve graduate from high school and are ready to enter the workforce, and transition to college or enter advanced technical training and careers. Our programs empower thousands of teens in some of Denver’s most vulnerable communities to make life choices that positively impact their future by teaching them to develop the coping tools, inspiration, and wherewithal to succeed in today’s world and to become leaders of tomorrow.

Youth on Record Releases New Youth-Led, Youth-Produced Podcast: Youth on Rewind

Youth on Rewind is a new podcast from Youth on Record (YOR) which will amplify the voices, stories and ideas of young storytellers. The show will feature an array of youth-produced stories, interviews, poetry, music and other audio art guided by the creative visions of paid podcasting interns.

An episode of Youth on Rewind will be released each month beginning in May 2023. The first episode takes a nuanced approach to mental health and wellness. It was produced by former intern and current YOR Fellow, Sydney Yllanes, with supplemental pieces produced by former interns Tierney Worthen and Genevieve Glimp. The episode asks college students, “What does mental health mean to you?” and investigates the daily inner conflicts that someone who lives with depression may experience, and highlights what it’s like to live with OCD.

The second episode of the show, which will be released in June 2023, was produced by former intern and recent University of Colorado, Denver graduate Sreeja Chakrabarty. This episode will examine the dynamic of “art versus the artist.” Chakrabarty speaks with local musicians and artists about how to navigate their own creative processes with nuance and intentionality.

“The Youth on Record Podcasting Internship has been amazing,” podcasting intern and MSU senior Xavier Gauthier said. “Although our team came in with different skill sets, we’ve all been able to grow in other areas with each other’s help. David and the rest of the YOR team have also been such a big help in broadening our skills so that we’re ready to thrive in our respective fields.”

Youth on Record’s podcast programs are intended to prepare young creatives for work in the growing podcast and audio arts industry. The program has gained national attention with students featured on NPR’s Here and Now last spring after submitting short essays the students wrote and recorded during their internship.

Youth on Record’s Youth Success Manager, David Ladon, is the executive producer of Youth on Rewind and supports all podcast interns as they learn the professional skills required to thrive in the audio arts and entertainment industry. Other podcasts released by the program have included the Official Underground Music Showcase Podcast, Underground and the Showcase, and a podcast produced in collaboration with Colorado Young Leaders, Generation Collaboration.

“Youth on Rewind offers listeners a sample of the compelling work our podcasting interns have produced,” Ladon said. “Conversations about representation in the media often overlook youth perspectives, or lack thereof. We are excited to be carving out space for youth voices to shine in Colorado’s robust independent media ecosystem.”

You can find this podcast on all major platforms, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Google Podcasts, and Amazon Music.

About Youth on Record:

At Youth on Record, we believe that all young people, including those who are at-risk and written-off, have the ability to turn their lives around. We are committed to ensuring that the youth we serve graduate from high school and are ready to enter the workforce, and transition to college or enter advanced technical training and careers. 

Our programs empower 1,700 teens in some of Denver’s most vulnerable communities to make life choices that positively impact their future by teaching them to develop the coping tools, inspiration, and wherewithal to succeed in today’s world and to become leaders of tomorrow.  

Generation Collaboration is one of those crucial programs. Not only is it a way to plug graduates into careers, but it presents an opportunity for current students to learn critical technical skills and prepare them to enter the creative industry. 

Youth On Record Hires Stephen Smith-Contreras as Director of Academic Success

Youth on Record (YOR) is excited to announce that Stephen Smith-Contreras has been named Director of Academic Success.

The hire marks YOR’s commitment to sustaining and expanding their school programs beyond Denver, Aurora, and Cherry Creek, and supports the development and implementation of career pathways for the creative industries (in partnership with the public schools).

“I couldn’t be more excited about this new addition to the team,” Deputy Director Andrea Viarrial-Murphy said.

“Stephen has a strong background in arts administration, curriculum development, leadership, and mentorship and is an extremely talented artist and musician. Stephen will be working to grow our partnerships with schools in the Denver Metro area, build our Teaching Artist team, and strengthen and grow our substitute roster. I am also thrilled that he will be working side-by-side with our new Director of Music Ecosystems, Erin Roberts, to develop and implement our career pathways programming for the creative industries.”

READ — How Youth on Record Supports Upward Mobility for Young Creatives

Prior to joining the team full-time, Smith-Contreras worked on the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (YOLA), Gustavo Dudamel’s signature program where he managed YOLA National and various community-based music projects.

His professional background includes 15 years of experience working in creative youth development with a focus on social and economic justice. He has a passion for using music and art as an agent for change and has committed to working with young people and communities through his work. He has developed and implemented a variety of arts education curricula with schools, universities, arts institutions and community-based organizations. Smith-Contreras has degrees in Cultural Anthropology, Ethnic Studies and Music from the University of Colorado at Boulder and California State University Los Angeles.

Like so much of YOR’s staff, Smith-Contreras is also a longtime musician himself. He has performed internationally and enjoys exploring the intersections between Afro-Latin percussion and electronic music.

“Youth on Record’s work fostering the intersection of arts education, music innovation and community cultivation has been on my radar for many years, “ Smith-Contreras said. “It is truly exciting to join Youth on Record’s dynamic team of teaching artists and arts administrators, and advancing its mission in our public schools.”

As Director of Academic Success, Smith-Contreras will navigate and oversee YOR’s relationships with public schools and for-credit class programs. Current school partnerships include Aurora Central High School, Colorado High School Charter – GES and Osage Campuses, Compass Academy, Legacy Options High School, Robert Smith STEAM Academy, Vista Peak Preparatory and American Indian School.

About Youth on Record:

YOR recognizes that education alone can not solve for systemic injustice, nor can it, alone, liberate youth. Art is a powerful tool, but it also cannot bear the sole responsibility for creating more equitable communities. Still, education and art, when integrated under the right framework, are powerful tools toward liberation and equity. 

YOR’s education, music, and community programs are designed to help young people become more free, more rooted in their personal power, and better able to thrive in spite of systems and circumstances that dis-empower and marginalize them.

YOR designs and implements strengths-based, music-centered programs intended to equip young people from historically under-resourced communities with the skills needed to find success in life–by advancing their academic success, increasing their economic opportunities and career skills, and strengthening their community connections and networks.

Top Company 2022: Nonprofits

The outpouring of applications for this year’s Top Company awards is a testament to the resilience and adaptability of enterprises that do business in the state. Applications for the 35th annual awards numbered in the hundreds, and it was particularly encouraging to see so many companies rebounding from two years of COVID restrictions, with most posting revenue and employee gains approaching—and in some cases, exceeding—pre-pandemic numbers.

This year’s Top Company winners and finalists represent 13 industry categories, plus a startup category for companies in business less than four years. Entrants were judged on three criteria: outstanding achievement, financial performance and community involvement. The judging panel was made up of ColoradoBiz magazine’s editorial board and two representatives from the business community.

 

WINNER — We Don’t Waste

Denver

What began as a one-man operation run out of founder Arlan Preblud’s station wagon has evolved into an 11,570-square-foot Food Recovery and Distribution center operated by 19 full-time employees. We Don’t Waste looks to keep perishable food out of landfills in order to distribute it to underserved and food-insecure communities of the Denver area.  

We Don’t Waste has grown to become the largest food recovery-focused organization in Colorado. As of this year, it has recovered and distributed more than 165 million servings of quality food, equal to more than 61 million meals, to food-insecure community members while also diverting roughly 41 million pounds of food from landfills since 2009.  

Part of We Don’t Waste’s success has been due to the company’s fundraising efforts to keep operations excelling, even amid the pandemic. As in-person volunteers waned during COVID-19, the nonprofit turned its focus to available grants. We Don’t Waste won the Bank of America Neighborhood Builders grant, amounting to $200,000 over two years, and the Front Range Waste Division grant. Both helped to support the nonprofit during a crucial time.   

Finalist — Common Sense Institute

Greenwood Village 

The Common Sense Institute has one clear goal: to educate Coloradans on policies, initiatives and proposed laws that will impact their lives. Founded in 2010, originally under the name Common Sense Policy Roundtable, CSI has become a juggernaut of information Coloradans can rely on to develop informed views on new policies, proposals and laws. Understanding its sphere of influence, CSI doesn’t just help educate the people of Colorado, it provides information to aid those in positions of power as well. In 2021, CSI hosted the inaugural Free Enterprise Summit, an event that featured the release of the “Colorado Free Enterprise Report” and “The Rankings Book: 2022 Edition,” which has served as a road map for policymakers across the state. 

Nonpartisanship is one of the organization’s guiding principles. “We believe it is critical to work across the aisles on positive solutions to address Colorado’s biggest challenges,” says CSI Director of Communications Cinamon Watson. “All research is conducted from this lens, and the company culture is based on it — collaborative, diverse, open.” 

The nonprofit has shown no signs of slowing down. Among all Colorado think tanks, CSI measured in at 59.5% of the total mentioned volume of online discussions and mentions. As of June this year, CSI had garnered more than 300 media mentions, which puts CSI well on its way to surpassing its number of 346 for 2021.  

FINALIST — Youth on Record

Denver

Youth on Record works with more than 3,000 young people annually to provide enhanced art- and music-centric programs to some of Denver’s most under-resourced communities.  

“YOR’s education, music and community programs are designed to help young people become more free, more rooted in their personal power, and better able to thrive in spite of systems and circumstances that dis-empower and marginalize them,” YOR’s website states.  

Part of YOR’s educational model is the fact that teachers and instructors are all local and professional musicians. It takes an artist to teach art, and YOR knows that investing in marginalized musicians is a way to continue to support potential future educators. Currently building a Music & Entertainment company, YOR wants to create a pathway for aspiring artists that re-imagines the talent landscape. 

“The design for the M&E company emerged through conversations with YOR’s oldest participants (ages 17-24) and its Teaching Artist staff members, as well as through conversations and dialogue with industry professionals who have identified gaps in the training, preparation, and professional development for creators of color and other minoritized groups,” the company says. 

YOR’s M&E company would be the first of any agency groups in the Western region to prioritize, support and promote artists specifically from minority communities.