EIC, The Bold Opinion
The young media team returned home after 2.5 months on the R&B Tour with Usher, now hired on to continue working.
Last week, Atlanta young media professionals from Usher’s New Look, in partnership with Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Detroit, gathered to publicly chat about their tour experiences as interns. They completed a rigorous 21-day bootcamp to endure 2.5 months of high-energy live entertainment.
“On this tour, I’ve been doing a lot of behind the scenes, like mic packs and running cables under the stage,” said Sarah Swift, audio production intern for Usher’s New Look. “This has given the opportunity to let young people in the industry and give them a chance,” she added.
This youth initiative, through Usher’s New Look, has been grooving for over 25 years, and introduced many students to the music and entertainment industry. The R&B Tour was a first-of-its-kind opportunity to launch the term “internship” to another level.
The 18-day stadium tour put Sarah, Mi’Cai, Storm, and their teammates in hands-on situations across production, multimedia, operations, and wardrobe departments.
“This is where these young interns really could go behind the scenes and work to understand what it’s like, said Shawn H. Wilson, Co-Founder of Usher’s New Look and President & CEO, Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Detroit.
“This is real world experience,” he concluded.
After the tour ended, the interns accepted employment offers and will continue working though a new partnership with BET Next Gen.
This inaugural effort reeled in 1600 applicants who had, then, already exhibited interest and/or previous experience with production, were of high interest for the program. The selection process included members who may have worked with the students in the year prior.
“It’s really important for us to design this as a true experience, said Wilson. “When we went through those applications, we looked for the fans, and we weeded them out because we wanted to find the individuals who were passionate about the entertainment trade, going to school, or working in the trade. We wanted to make sure that we found the young people that, this experience, would literally catapult their career,” he added.
“To see these young adults come in hungry, thirsty, and even nervous to go through this process was phenomenal,” said Amia Mize, partnering contributor.
The Usher’s New Look organization encourages local youth, creatives, designers, and media-forward individuals to engage through community partnerships and opportunities for all and more online.
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