Grace Weber, a Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter who co-wrote Chance the Rapper’s song “All We Got”) hosts Grace Weber’s Music Lab. Each month, in Radio Milwaukee’s performance space, we invite high school musicians to perform in an “open mic” setting. In addition, a featured guest – professional musician or entertainment industry professional – shares personal and professional experience and advice, and critiques the students’ performance.
A Radio Milwaukee employee recruits students by contacting music and art teachers from area high schools. We also put up posters in schools for each month’s Lab. Students submit samples of their music and/or spoken word through the Grace Weber Music Lab website (URL below). Grace and her manager decide on performers and set the lineup for each month’s performances and book the featured guests.
The Lab’s features a 30 minutes educational module, student performances critiqued by a featured guest, a performance by the featured guest and social time for students.
We believe collaboration through music, the arts and creating a physical space where conversation can occur among our youth, are critical to bridging the divides in communities across Milwaukee and beyond. Our platform is designed to attract and draw youth from each of the public and private high schools in the Milwaukee area. Because there are only 120 spots for each lab session, our online sign-up form limits the number of participants from each high school, ensuring that each night has a diverse group of kids from a range of schools. We are seeing new friendships, and collaborations forming through this program.