Recording Academy and Amazon Music name five HBCU students for 2026 scholarships
Five students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities will receive $10,000 each under a music-industry scholarship announced on 15 October.
The Recording Academy and Amazon Music named the 2026 recipients of the “Your Future Is Now” programme, which is presented with the Academy’s Black Music Collective, Billboard reported. The scheme supports students who want to work in the business of music.
The 2026 recipients are Anton Hopewell Jr., a junior at Howard University; Kennedi Paschal, also a junior at Howard; Dana Thompson, a junior at Spelman College; Tinuola Osuntusa, a junior at Virginia State University; and Kyler M Reese, a senior at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical University. In the United States system, juniors are third-year undergraduates and seniors are fourth-year undergraduates.
Cash is only part of the award. Each of the five students receives direct networking opportunities with music industry executives. They also take part in an immersive rotational experience, meaning short spells working with leaders across different departments at the Academy and Amazon Music to learn how each part of the organisations works.
The students will also be invited to events during Grammy Week in 2027. That is the run of performances, meetings and industry gatherings held around the Grammy Awards. For students looking for a first job, that access matters.
Two university music departments benefit as well. The music programmes at Howard University and Spelman College will each receive a $10,000 grant in 2026 to buy equipment. The grants are awarded by the Black Music Collective and Amazon Music alongside the student scholarships.
The programme was established in 2021 to develop future music industry leaders at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. That term describes US colleges and universities founded to provide higher education for Black students. Students are selected while still enrolled, with five chosen each year.
Now in its fifth year, the programme has paid a total of $220,000 in scholarships to 22 students at those universities. It has also paid $100,000 in grants to 10 university music programmes for instruments and other equipment.
What makes this stand out is the combination. A $10,000 scholarship helps with costs. Time inside two large music organisations helps with contacts, practical skills and next steps after graduation.
