Amir Islam
Executive Director, The Residency
Amir Islam, is the Executive director for The Residency Performing Artist Hip-Hop Youth Development Institution. He was the FMR Community Projects Manager for Grammy Award-winning artist Macklemore before transitioning into his role at The Residency. Islam is also a GRAMMY Recording Academy PNW Chapter alumni. A second-generation Seattleite from the historical Central District neighborhood, he has deep community ties and a passion for music, art, culture, and philanthropy.
About The Residency:
The Residency seeks to build a powerful community of young hip-hop artists equipped with the artistic and leadership skills, business acumen, and mentorship necessary to become professional artists and cultural change makers. Through their participation in The Residency, young artists from low-income families acquire tangible artistic and professional skills while also gaining confidence, teamwork, and a deepened understanding of their own identity and power.
The Residency launched in July 2015 as a collaboration between the Museum of Pop Culture, Arts Corps, and Grammy award-winning artists Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. It was created as a response to the glaring gap in access to high-quality, experiential arts education for low-income youth and has quickly become the preeminent training ground for the next generation of artists poised to leave a lasting mark on Seattle’s growing music industry.
The year-round program includes a month-long intensive workshop in the summer in which young people participate in either a vocal or production track. During the intensive, youth write original songs, record in a professional studio, and perform in front of hundreds of people at a premiere Seattle venue. In addition to making, recording, and performing their music, the youth participate in a number of engaging panel discussions with leaders in the northwest creative community. The Residency exists to break down barriers to equitable arts learning. Youth participants receive stipends after the summer intensive to address financial difficulties and honor their work as artists. Further, participants receive subsidized transportation and meals throughout the intensive to minimize potential challenges to full participation in the program. After the summer intensive, youth (our “alumni”) have access to regular skills-building workshops and get opportunities to perform and participate in other educational and industry experiences, including the Resilience College Scholarship Fund, which provides financial scholarships for alumni pursuing further education.