The nonprofit music organization known as The Local Sound Collaborative has selected a new cohort of six Rochester musicians to receive artist grants throughout 2024.

Now in its second year, LSC's Artist Grants Program will provide a monthly payment of $200, with no restrictions, to rock musician Greg Best, hip-hop artists James Boykins AKA Chi the Realist and Elijah Crocker AKA Crockerdile, R&B musician Nahkiyah Knight, singer-songwriter Claire McClusky AKA Georgie, and hip-hop musician Micah "Breeze" Walker AKA Senoj from the ROC.

Ray Mahar, LSC's collaborative director, says the purpose is to empower musicians.  “Let’s be bold with our solution-making," he said. "Let’s put power back into people’s hands."

The monthly stipend provided by the Artist Grants Program helps to free up time the musicians might not otherwise have.   Greg Best said that in the past, songs he had been writing for 8 years might have been left unfinished on his computer   "Now it’s like the time is being bought for me so I can actually sit down and do that work and be very focused on it,” he said.

For Micah Walker, the benefit goes beyond the grant itself and extends expanding one's audience and doing educational outreach.  “When you’re with an organization like the Sound Collaborative, you’re in front of new eyes, so that’s new exposure, new markets to infiltrate, you’re working with kids, kids are hearing your stuff," he explained. The grant represented "the opportunity to be seen," said Elijah Crocker.
Nahkiyah Knight said that with The Local Sound Collaborative, she's accepted for who she is.  “It’s hard getting into things like that when they see us for our color, not for what we do and our talents and our gifts," she said. "It gets overwhelming sometimes, but when it comes down to LSC, I can just be myself. I can do what I have do to do, I can feel comfortable with doing my music.”

The Local Sound Collaborative presents "Passing the Torch" — a showcase featuring performances by Rissa, Terruhwrist, and Keem and Friends — on Friday, December 1, at 8 p.m., at UUU Art Collective. thelocalsoundcollaborative.org.



Daniel J. Kushner is an arts writer at CITY. He can be reached at [email protected].