Nick Payton - Music Educator, Composer, Producer, Activist.
I left Public Relations and A&R Consulting to make a difference. Even though I hosted music industry round tables for H.S. & College Students and worked with Roc Nation, WeWork, 313 Labs, SUNY Empire University - it wasn't enough. I needed to bring all of my connections, my network, my gift of gab to the school directly. If I wanted to be the change I wanted to see in the world, I need to provide students with the ability and knowledge to be changemakers in their own communities.
Black Box Theatre X John Lewis: Good Trouble Audio Club
These two programs are the manisfestation of my arts grants in the schools. Black Box, sees me as a Composer & Educator - Navigating our students through the new American Songbook. This is where I blend STEM, Artificial Intelligence (Google Gemini and Google LLM), Folk music of the of the Americans, and modern music production to expose my students to their shared cultural heritage from around the globe. The John Lewis: Good Trouble Audio Club - is where I follow the mission of civil rights leader, congressman, and protege of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, and see his Good Trouble alive and well in the schools. Students create music, art, and media to learn how to be come advocates for their familes and communities, use social media for good, and explore the arts as a place to push for social justice and change.
6x NY Arts Council Grant Recepient
I have been awarded the SCR Grant three times and I am a one time grantee of the Arts Throw Thrive Grant. Through these grants I have created music and music arts programs that seek to take the music of the African Diaspora into the 21st Century. Whether it is through my work at the KIPP Capital Region Public Charter Schools, my work in the Albany Community, or my own artisty as a singer/composer; I seek to create a legacy that I can be proud of. My goal is to uplift others and help them find their artistic voice and hopefully along they way, those I work with will learn about who they are as an individual and in their cultural identity.Some of my sponsors and collaborators have been: Corey Gibson of Sony/ATV, Charles Augustus of Republic Records, Billboard Charting Producers such as Mow and Brook Brovaz, not to mention software companies such as: Antelope Audio, Klevgrand, Beatsurfing VST, Musicfy AI Software, and Phil Speiser.
My JOY: My KIPPsters
These faces looking up at me while I'm directing their last concert is why I am an educator. No matter if I'm tired, sick, exhausted, or overworked, they make it all worthwhile. My goal is to to create a unique experience. That means autotune and Bandlab in the classroom, using music technology starting in Kindergarten through 12th grade, recording students with professional equipment, and mentoring students in music production and music business. That also means bringing mentors from across the music and entertainment indusry, bringing Billboard charting songwriters, producers, and engineers to work on thier songs; and teaching them about intellectual Property/ Copyrights. I want them to have the opportunites and knowledge I had to fight everyday for. I want them to know they are special, loved, and deserving of all the love I pour into them. I want to let the world know I dont do this because they are at risk or from the slums, they are disenfrancised not poor. For all the success of their parents - to some people of this world, they are just another Black, Hispanic, or Minority kid. But to me they are my legacy and our shared future.
Artificial Intellegence and the new Jim Code.
My grant program, Lost Voices and my Digital Griot identity, exist to combat the racial and economic bias that exists in AI and social media algorithms. The digital scraping of art, music, social media of Africans, African-Americans, other POCs will create more erasure of their contributions to the arts and history over the next decade. I seek to use A.I. language models such as Google LLM, DDSR, Gemini, Magenta, and other programs to create a song trust; to modernize (with the correct historical context) the music of the African Diaspora and make it available to the youth and later generations. So my people's contributions to the American Songbook or never lost or forgotten.
Nick Slay: The Activist
Using my grandfather's name, a man who worked tireless to take care of his family as musician, a construction worker, and a jack of all trades - and carry on his legacy in this world. With my song, She Cries at Night I created a Prince/Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis fueled sonic story about the women who survived sexual assault and domestic violence. Through my work and coverage on ABC Eyewitness News 7, News 12 NY, and DJ Enuff of Hot 97 FM. I was able to rasie money for, Santuaries for Families, women's domestic violence shelter in NYC.