Latin Academy International ‘e-latin Grammy Carreras y Música’ Program.

Nearly 2,000 South Florida, Mexican and Colombian students joined together via satellite yesterday to learn about music industry careers at the Latin Recording Academy’s first-ever international e-Latin GRAMMY Carreras y Música program. The event, hosted by Miami-Dade Community College and the Tec de Monterrey, took place at Miami-Dade Community College’s Wolfson Campus, and included music professionals with diverse industry and cultural backgrounds. Panelists included President of Crescent Moon Records Mauricio Abaroa; GRAMMY-winning Warner Music Latina recording artists Bacilos; Billboard Latin/Caribbean Bureau Chief Leila Cobo; music video director Pablo Croce; three-time Latin GRAMMY-winning songwriter/producer Kike Santander; and Vice President of Music and Artist Relations, MTV Networks Latin America José Tillán, who also served as moderator.

In addition to the hundreds of South Florida high school students in the audience at Miami-Dade Community College, nearly 1,000 students from 14 Tec de Monterrey campuses – 12 in Mexico and two in Colombia – participated via satellite. The event also was made available to Miami-Dade Community College’s additional five campuses as well as dozens of other South Florida high schools via closed-circuit television. Students in the audience as well as those from remote sites were able to interact with the panelists. Panel discussions were followed by an acoustic performance from Bacilos, who performed two songs – “Caraluna” and “Mi Primer Millón” – from their most recent release, Caraluna.

“The first-ever e-Latin GRAMMY Carreras y Música was an unprecedented program that connected students across the Americas using the most avant-garde technological resources, giving even more young people the opportunity to learn about the business of Latin music,” said Latin Recording Academy President Gabriel Abaroa. “Thanks to technology, we were able to link three countries, more than 15 campuses, and thousands of students who share a passion for the music industry, while the Latin Recording Academy continued its mission of providing educational outreach to Latin communities around the globe.”

In addition to the panel discussions, participating South Florida students were eligible to register for a $2,500 educational grant from South Florida Mellon Bank and the Latin Recording Academy. A merit-based scholarship, the grant recipient will be announced in 6 – 8 weeks.

South Florida schools that participated include Miami Springs Middle School, Felix Varela Senior High School, Coral Reef Senior High School, Southwest Senior High School, and New World School of the Arts. Tec de Monterrey sites in Mexico include Hermosillo (Sonora), Obregon (Sonora), Chihuahua (Chihuahua), Ciudad Juarez (Chihuahua), Monterrey (Nuevo Leon), Morelia (Michoacan), Ciudad de Mexico (Distrito Federal), Toluca (Estado de México), Cuernavaca (Morelos), Atizapán (Estado de México), Guadalajara (Jalisco), and Merida (Yucatan), as well as Bogota and Medellin in Colombia.

The Tec de Monterrey is the largest multi-campus university system in Mexico and Latin America with 32 campuses across Mexico. Via their virtual university, there are 1,200 receiving sites in 10 Latin American countries as well as connecting offices in Canada, the U.S., Spain, and France.

To encourage careers in the music business, Latin GRAMMY educational outreach provides high school students an opportunity to interact with music industry professionals in educational settings throughout Latin communities. The e-Latin GRAMMY Carreras y Música program is just a prelude to the Road to the Latin GRAMMYs – a four-month-long celebration that will showcase the vibrancy, quality and diversity of the Miami and Latin cultural communities. Festivities include concerts, educational events, art exhibits, performances, workshops, receptions and the already established Latin GRAMMY Fest – an intensive two-week period that turns South Florida into a non-stop cultural festival.

The 4th Annual Latin GRAMMY Awards will emanate live from Miami’s AmericanAirlines Arena on September 3, 2003, and will be broadcast domestically by CBS from 9-11 p.m. (ET/PT). The network also will distribute the show internationally through CBS Broadcast International, providing the show to an estimated 100 countries. The 4th Annual Latin GRAMMY Awards is an event produced in association with Cossette Productions.