Tiwa Savage Is Supporting A Nigeria-Based Program That Provides Emerging Artists With College Scholarships – AfroTech
Tiwa Savage wants to ensure the next generation of Nigerian artists are well-equipped for the music industry.
Savage is a 2007 alumna of Berklee College of Music in Boston. Starting out as a backup singer at 17 for George Michael and many others, Savage attended the University of Kent in England to pursue a career in business administration. From there she landed a job at Royal Bank of Scotland, according to information shared by Berklee. But music was calling her back, and she returned to her first love.
“When I came to Berklee and saw a lot of the younger students, their drive and their passion, it recharged my batteries,” Savage told the college at the time she was attending. “[They’re] not thinking, ‘I’m going to save about $10,000 before I move,’ no, ‘I’m just going to get my backpack and move.’ I needed that fresh air, that atmosphere. I kind of felt like a 19-year-old.”
Berklee In Nigeria: Tiwa Savage Intensive Music Program
Savage is now recognized as a superstar, forging her own lane in the afrobeats genre. While she is grateful for her success over the decades from countless performances and awards, she admits that success has a different meaning to her nowadays.
“It’s great to perform in front of hundreds and thousands of people to win awards, but at some point, the thing that’s really gonna fulfill you is what’s going to outlive you or outlive your career,” she told CNN. “It was literally about 20 years ago when I walked through the halls of Berklee College of Music, but when I got to Berklee, I didn’t see many African students, and it was at that moment I knew that I was either going to bring Berklee to Nigeria or find a way to get more African students to be able to have this opportunity.”
She is now partnering with the college to establish the Berklee in Nigeria: Tiwa Savage Intensive Music Program, a four-day, no-cost program in Lagos, Nigeria. From a pool of more than 2,000 applications, 120 emerging musicians were selected nationwide, according to TRT Afrika.
The program, also supported through her foundation (Tiwa Savage Music Foundation), connects participants with West African artistic and industry leaders in music and teaches performance, songwriting, production, and music business, according to a press release. Savage serves as an artistic advisor, per the program website.
“We need to teach the new creatives about owning, publishing, owning masters, learning what copyright is, licensing, learning. What work for hire is, being able to negotiate, go into a studio and know that your name has to be credited, your own part of that music that’s going to live forever. A lot of times what you find with talent or creatives, because they don’t know better, they tend to settle for that, and that’s not fair and you can’t really compete globally like that,” she told CNN.
The program requires individuals to be at least 18 years old and to have played an instrument for at least one year; this also applies to vocalists. Participants must not be current Berklee students; must be able to travel to Lagos, Nigeria, for the program; and must cover their own housing and travel costs.
This year’s program ran from April 22 to April 26, according to its website. At its close, participants received certificates, and 18 of them were awarded scholarships totaling more than $2 million, which will be fully supported at the Berklee College of Music in Boston for their undergraduate years.
“When we started the Tiwa Savage Music Foundation, the goal was to bring the world’s highest standards of music education home to Nigeria, and seeing 18 of our students receive life-changing scholarships to Berklee in Boston is proof that our talent is truly global,” Savage expressed, according to TRT Afrika.
