Lights, camera… Kaboom!

Kaboom Collective, a program for musicians and artists ages 15 to 25, offers production-based real-world experiences for young people interested in getting more involved in the arts and entertainment industry.

At the center of the program is a studio orchestra of about 40 members that consists of string, wind and percussion instruments. In the orchestra, students perform and record new music for productions such as studio albums, video games and music videos. There is also a composition team, an animation team, a scriptwriting team, a voice acting team and more.

As a production-based program, students get to work side-by-side with professionals and learn how to become industry creators, such as composers, script writers, digital animators and recording artists.

Liza Grossman, co-founder of the Cleveland-based program, said she came up with the idea with Joseph Weagraff after the two realized that students were missing out on gaining practical professional experience in arts education. Students asked Grossman for more experiences and ways to grow professionally as artists, and that’s what fueled the development of Kaboom.

After Grossman stepped down as head of the Contemporary Youth Orchestra in 2020, Kaboom was launched in March of 2021.

“Everything that we do is based on a profession in the industry,” Grossman said. “Every single profession. Our students are getting that kind of experience by working with and learning from someone who does this professionally in the industry.”

At the end of students’ time with Kaboom, they have a professionally marketed production to add to their portfolio. They’re also able to earn professional credit in the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), the online database of movies, videos and TV shows.

Weagraff, who serves as the program’s brand director, said that Kaboom is very different from other programs that just rehearse and perform.

“Our biggest goal is to show young artists that there is a universe of opportunity for them in the music, arts and entertainment industries beyond playing an instrument,” Weagraff said. “It’s not just theoretical. At Kaboom, students work hand-and-hand with the audio engineer who is recording music, they design the album covers, they write the script. They build their portfolio at Kaboom – these are their projects, which jumpstarts a vibrant and fulfilling creative future in the industry.”

For Alli Alston, a junior music education major at Cleveland State University, she sees Kaboom as a space where she can further her music education and learn valuable skills along the way.

A flute and piccolo player in the studio orchestra, she had previously worked with Grossman and joined Kaboom during the COVID-19 pandemic when the program was just getting started.

“It’s completely different from any other youth orchestra that you would be in, and it was a great opportunity to keep with music, especially during COVID times,” Alston said. 

Currently, the studio orchestra holds weekly rehearsals at Baldwin Wallace University, which is partnered with the program, and Alston also takes industry classes that are available to any Kaboom student.

Industry classes are designed for students to learn more about what it takes to be a professional in the arts and entertainment industry.

“We have classes on how to be a producer, how to produce your own music, production industry and stuff like that,” Alston said. “It’s been really interesting.”

Alston said a highlight of the program was recording an album and touring with the indie rock band The Accidentals. The studio orchestra went to several states to perform with the band. 

“It was really fun,” Alston said. “It was about two weeks on a bus just going around and performing. It was probably one of my favorite things we’ve ever done, because we really got to feel like an actual musician.”

Concertmaster violinist Sav Buist and cellist Katie Larson, who formed The Accidentals, met in their high school orchestra class and started the band when they were both 16 years old. They have been recording music and touring for 12 years. Grossman said she had previously worked with them and developed a friendship which made the collaboration with Kaboom possible.

“For my students to be able to have that experience with artists that gave at the level that they do, it gave my students a different kind of freedom to explore their own self-expression with their music, because it was so encouraged and desired,” she said.

Throughout the nearly eight months that it took to create the album with The Accidentals, titled “Reimagined,” students at Kaboom learned about what the recording process is like, packaging and marketing an album and other industry skills.

“Having them work toward something for an entire eight months of hard work and recording, and to then see an album come out and to have that experience was just filled with so many emotions that you can’t even capture it in a word.” 

Grossman said that watching her students’ growth makes her work worthwhile.

“Art reminds us that we’re human,” Grossman said. “For them to be able to see and hear their own accomplishments, and the look on their faces and how they learn from that – there’s no other word for it except inspiring.”

Aden Graves is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].