Passion to profit: This nonprofit is teaching JCPS students business behind making music
For three nights a week this spring, about two dozen Jefferson County Public Schools students have gathered inside the Teen Tech Center at the West End YMCA, learning the skills necessary to turn their creative passions into profits.
Lavon Clack, CEO of Prominent Youth of America, founded the Louisville nonprofit after years of working in the music industry. All artistic expressions require a business plan to be profitable, and he wanted to share what he knew about that process, he said.
"I grew up in Village West (an apartment complex) and you just wish you had someone to pour knowledge into you," Clack said. So, "I'm taking all of the knowledge I have and passing it on to the younger people so they don't have to go through that learning curve."
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Since starting the nonprofit in 2019, Clack has worked with a few hundred JCPS middle and high school students, teaching them the ins and outs of music and video production, along with information on copyright, publishing and more.
"I’m learning new things but I’m also getting better at the things I already know," said Lyric Knox, an eighth grader at Barrett Middle. She started working with the nonprofit last year at the urging of her mom because of her passion for music. In the time since, she wrote and produced a song, then made it into a music video.
"Lyric's Party," Knox said, "is a chill, relax song," and the video included other Prominent Youth of America students.
Looking forward, Knox said she hopes to learn more about editing beats and vocals.
Aside from the nonprofit's afterschool program, Clack runs a summer program and has partnered with JCPS to teach different aspects of music production within schools like Waller Williams. Additionally, Clack helps facilitate the "Art of DJ'ing" program through a partnership with the Fund for the Arts and South Louisville Community Center. The program includes lessons from Magic 101.3 FM's DJ Don Q.
While students come in eager to create, the program is not easy, Clack recently wrote on Facebook.
"It requires students to learn about the business behind being successful in entertainment and the importance of paperwork," Clack wrote. "The easy part is creating content, the hard part is knowing how to protect your intellectual properties and monetize content."
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But Clack's programs aren't just for those looking to be professionals within the music industry. Students are being given "transferrable skill sets," he said.
Ciniya Clack, his daughter, has produced three music videos, one of which has garnered about 10,000 views on YouTube. A senior at Ballard High, she and her little sister go with their dad to the afterschool program at the Y most nights.
"We all bounce off (ideas) each other," she said of the other students in the program. "It’s an environment where you can be yourself."
Despite her joy of being in the studio and creating her own songs, Ciniya said she plans to major in business and pursue a fashion designing career. She feels what she's learned through her dad's nonprofit will pay off in that endeavor.
"When I go to fill out my resume, there's a lot of things I can list that I've done before graduation," she said, pointing to her songs, producing a podcast, mapping out scenes for videos and more.
Plus, "I’ve been interviewed by other people and I’ve done speeches, so I've got to work on my communication," she said.
Contact reporter Krista Johnson at kjohnson3@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Prominent Youth of America teaching music business to JCPS students
