(L-R) Kendra Lyttle, BeiBei Zhu, mentor Craig Dodge, Iván Garnica, and Diana Castro look over the marketing strategy the group is developing for the SoPA music label they plan to launch.

Holland College’s School of Performing Arts is launching a new mentorship program that will enable seven second-year Music Performance students annually for the next three years to participate in additional training to enhance their skills.

The mentorship program, which was established through a donation from the R. Howard Webster Foundation, will give the students the opportunity to take a deeper dive into one of two streams: the sound, lighting, and technical aspects of live event production, or the business and promotion side of performing arts, depending on their interests and aptitude.

Mentors will spend three hours a week with each student throughout the first semester of the academic year developing specific skills in their chosen stream. In the second semester, the participating students will put their knowledge and skills into practice, developing and producing concerts, events, and other creative productions, and students in the business of music stream will work with their mentor to establish and promote the music being created by current and former students through a SoPA record label.

School of Performing Arts Program Manager Liam Corcoran, said the mentorship program will not only benefit the students, it will provide skilled workers for the local and regional music industry.

“The strength of the music industry in this region will be enhanced by having these professionally trained young people entering the work force,” he said. “Our mentors are looking forward to working with their students on all aspects of their chosen stream and seeing them apply them for the betterment of the industry as a whole.”

The two-year Music Performance diploma program teaches students how to interpret, improvise, and perform contemporary music styles such as country, Celtic, rock, R&B, jazz, Acadian, and pop. In addition to theory, ear training, and arranging, they learn the business aspects of music and the lucrative field of music licensing. The Music Performance program uses official curriculum materials from Berklee College of Music in Boston for all core music courses.