Statement of Intent – NYU Clive Davis Institute
Why are you a good fit for Clive Davis Institute, a holistic program where every student is required to study a core curriculum that includes business & technology, production, music history & writing, musicianship & songwriting, and performance. Your essay should demonstrate that you have researched CDI's curriculum and understand the Institute’s aim to produce well-rounded graduates who will help define the future of the music industry. Help us to understand you as a person, a scholar, a creative, an entrepreneur, and an aspiring professional. Include relevant background information and experiences, personal traits that will help you succeed at NYU and at CDI. Include experiences that have informed your growth as a student and aspiring professional, ideas about how you hope to contribute to the community and culture of CDI. Finally, include a few words about areas of study you are interested in at CDI that fall outside your current focus or strengths.
In order for me to reach the heights that I dream of reaching, I deem it necessary to engage in higher learning—not only in music, but also in courses that fuse music with other disciplines, such as those offered at CDI, particularly the liberal arts curriculum.
As an aspiring performing artist, aside from studying and creating music, I truly enjoy classes that incentivize deep thinking and provide opportunities to analyze the way humans function and our relationship with the world around us. Not only do I strive to make connections using music, but I also strive to understand how these connections are made and their effects on the human psyche.
Understanding the interconnectivity between the arts, human sciences such as philosophy and psychology, business, and technology will further propel me toward fulfilling my mission as an artist and musician. My goal is to seamlessly fuse culture and language through sound and song, allowing my music to resonate with people regardless of the things that make them different.
The comprehensive curriculum offered at CDI is extremely intriguing to me because of its emphasis on combining different areas of knowledge. In my opinion, the core curriculum stems from the integral sectors of the music industry needed to ensure success.
Although it is up to each student to fuse the knowledge they acquire to best suit their personal, creative, and professional interests, the program provides the foundation to do so by strengthening students’ analytical skills through thinking, writing, research, and discussion.
For this reason, I believe I would be a great fit for CDI because creating meaningful fusions through my individual passions is one of my greatest strengths.
My love for combining different disciplines has also helped me realize the importance of building positive relationships and their impact not only on professional success but also on emotional well-being.
When it comes to music and the arts, collaborating with other artists and professionals has been one of the most important aspects of my growth. I have demonstrated my ability to contribute meaningfully to collaborative environments through innovative NHS projects, scholarship programs at AMDA, Berklee College of Music, and NYU, arts-based community service as the first international Inspiring Girls Panama Young Ambassador, and my participation in the Panama Jazz Festival as a vocalist for Las Hijas del Jazz, the first all-female big band in Latin America.
My multicultural background as an Afro-Panamanian and African American young woman also draws me to CDI’s Study Away program. My original music already fuses Jazz, Panamanian folklore, Reggae/Dancehall, Reggae en Español, Salsa, Afrobeats, bilingualism, and other musical traditions.
Studying in Berlin during my junior year would provide me with the opportunity to learn from a culture I have yet to discover while expanding both my creative and artistic abilities.
My interest in CDI is not only to develop skills that I already possess. On the contrary, I am equally excited by the opportunity to explore areas of music that are entirely new to me.
Courses such as REMU-UT 1159: Recycling Pop Music: Innovation, Imitation & Originality, REMU-UT 1166: Topics: Hip-Hop/Jazz Continuum, and REMU-UT 1168: Topics: Amy Winehouse/Erykah Badu represent exactly the type of intellectual and artistic stimulation I seek.
I finalize my statement of intent by expressing that, with my creativity, multicultural perspective, belief in emotional well-being, and commitment to collaboration, I wholeheartedly believe that I would be a valuable addition to the NYU and CDI community.
