Aux Project Music Festival

Lucas Clavijo, a senior at Carnegie Vanguard High School, started a scholarship fund in 2019 for an often-overlooked sector in most university music programs: music production. The Aux Project was created by the youth to help the youth spark conversations about music as well as using the common love of music to help bring people together. I talked with him and interviewed him about his nonprofit and what lays ahead in the future for him. 

What motivated you to start this?
The initial idea came to me about a year ago when I noticed that people love talking about music and getting music recommendations. I thought it would be interesting to base something around that and setting up a conference or an event specifically devoted to music quickly came to mind. Music's influence and cultural impact are immense, and I wanted to create an organization that would spread and promote the power of music. Similarly, I picked up music production around the same time, and I decided that I would create a scholarship for students interested in music production since there are hardly any for that. 

Can you tell me about recent events that have taken place? 
We planned a virtual event, which took place in mid-August. The event was centered around activism, and we worked to get speakers who specialize in musicology and music's importance in social movements. Also, we awarded our first scholarship recipient on Wednesday, July 15!

How do you think your scholarship can impact whoever receives it?
I wanted the scholarship to continue a student's educational journey without the worry of financial barriers. The goal is to provide a resource that helps a student maximize his or her potential into becoming an innovator in the music production landscape. 

What are your long-term plans for this organization?
Ultimately, I want this organization to grow into a community for sparking conversations about music. Music is a universal language - the whole purpose of the nonprofit is to provide a platform for people to engage with new sounds, artists, and genres. Besides this, we want to double the number of scholarship recipients each year, and we want to be able to organize 2-3 annual events. 

Finally, what are a couple of not as well-known producers that you personally like?
Kenny Segal and Mid-Air Thief are two of my favorites right now that are considered smaller and not as well known. In terms of general producers, my favorites include Brian Eno, Flying Lotus, and Madlib. 

For more, see @theauxproject on Instagram.