Rising Star
Year in Review
Hello everyone and welcome - I've put together this blog post as a review of everything that you, our donors, have helped make possible. Without further ado:
Fundraiser Launch
On May 28th, 2025, with an extensive amount of support from Aivi Tran, I launched the Rising Star Patronage Project - with the goal of funding a group of diverse composers to create a bit of music, help support careers, and help keep everyone's rent paid.
I was inspired to do so as an extension of the work I've done advocating for diversity in the industry, including the Being Black in Game Audio panels (AES, PAX, GDC, & the IGDA, 2020-2021, our annual Diversity in Game Audio panel at GDC (GDC 2024 - 2026), my co-founding and presence as an educator in the Beats to Play Games to community (2018), and my founding of the Black in Game Audio community (2020). They've been by no means unsuccessful as initiatives - but I wanted to do more.
Fundraiser Success & Initial Steps
Thanks to a combination of donations from our community and a not-for-profit organization in Seattle, we were able to raise an initial amount of $14,748, reaching 134% of our public goal and initial milestone, $11,000.
We sprung into action immediately - in addition to tapping into my existing network of composers, I had collected responses from a call-for-composers on May 21st, 2025. I browsed through our initial list of 48 composers and reached out to a small set of extremely talented artists. I met with everyone, drew up initial contracts, and entered preproduction with our composers - working together to make a plan for our first release.
Growing Pains
As we got deeper into production, we hit our first set of growing pains - between tight schedules, an overly ambitious timeline, and a budget that needed a bit more wiggle room, we announced a soft delay. We hadn't publicized a release date, but for transparency, we disclosed on September 20th that 3 of our 4-5 tracks were completed, though we had hoped they would all be finished by September 15th. To mitigate further issues, we swiftly onboarded additional help to manage production of the album.
"Side"quests
While the album was pitched as our big "deliverable," the goal of Rising Star is to support marginalized artists across the industry in as many ways as possible. In the interest of doing so, alongside producing the album, we:
Purchased the music software, Kontakt, for a marginalized composer
While I lack a certain amount of privilege, I was able to attend the Berklee College of Music in Boston. At Berklee, as part of their technology policy, students are required to buy certain software. While this created issues for my ability to afford multiple semesters, I have grown to reluctantly understand and agree with this choice. It's extremely difficult to succeed in this field without the proper technology. When I heard that a marginalized composer frequently found themselves limited by a lack of this industry-standard software, I offered to purchase it for them on behalf of the fund.
Purchased a pass to PAX West in Seattle for a marginalized composer
Networking is absolutely essential for composers especially, since a majority of the music industry is based on individual freelance contracts. Much of this hiring happens through word-of-mouth, and PAX presents a fantastic opportunity to join those conversations. When I saw that Beats to Play Games to was unable this year to fund their annual scholarship for a pass to a marginalized composer, I offered to do so on behalf of the fund.
Supported a composer with a direct rent payment
One of our artists was facing housing insecurity and asked for a payment advance. Instead of an advance, I offered to send them an additional payment. As someone who has had similar difficulties, I considered it a moral imperative.
Applied for partnership with the Game Developer's Conference
GDC is one of the industry's premier networking events. It can also be one of the most expensive. When I saw that GDC was partnering with organizations like ours, I submitted an application. We were selected for partnership.
🙌🏾
Continued building relationships
To avoid implying or promising work from initiatives that are still in development, I'll say simply that I'm continuing the long-term work of building relationships with organizations that are of particular interest to marginalized composers. I hope to continue making the industry a more inclusive place through our work together.
Soundtrack Release
We published our first release, Beginnings - Rising Star Vol. 1 on October 24th, 2025. It features excellent work from myself and 5 composers, MEMODEMO, Aivi Tran, Leaf Let, Rin Jeon (Mellorine), and Saria Lemes.
Since releasing, its been streamed roughly 6500 times across all platforms, a relatively modest start (as is common for any new musical ventures) - but, as I said when it first released, this album represents the start of something truly meaningful.
While there are organizations that support diversity in music, diversity in games, and even diversity in game audio specifically, to my knowledge we are the only organization that seeks to specifically support marginalized composers in the video game music industry.
While video game music is renowned as one of the most compelling features of games there are precious few conversations that focus on the creators of that music. Composers are also often left out of game audio conversations and there are very few opportunities for support in an industry niche that is predominantly freelance. As such, I feel very strongly about offering working opportunities, and direct support, to composers specifically.
Entering 2026
Post-release, we shifted our focus - a colleague in Production (the name for the role similar to Project Management the games industry) offered to give me assistance and joined me to help improve and standardize some of our processes, assist with logistics across a variety of initiatives, and offer specialized support where they had skills and experience.
Thanks to their help, we were able an incredible amount of work, including but not limited to: putting together an official website, organizing an ever-growing list of contacts and creators, setting up Patreon and Ko-fi accounts, setting up social media accounts, creating SOPs for much of our regular work, building a comprehensive plan for work in Q1 and Q2 of 2026, producing a small series highlighting Black composers during Black History Month, partnering with GDC to support a number of Rising Star Scholars during the conference, introducing those scholars in a series on social media, and hosting a dinner for those scholars at GDC - much of which was led by them, and none of which would have come together without their assistance.
Rising Star Scholars at GDC
As part of our partnership with GDC, we put together an article for their newsletter on Linkedin. Please feel free to read it in full there, but I've included a few key excerpts below:
The video game industry is home to some of the most creative, most compelling, and most stunning examples of modern-day artistic creation. From relatively modest roots in single-screen, dichromatic abstract explorations, gaming has evolved into a creative powerhouse; moving beyond simple entertainment to explore themes as mature as depression and trauma, and representing billions of dollars in spending and revenue. The implications are clear: For artists looking to sustain themselves through their art, gaming is the premium place to be.
Premium, though, is an apt word. For all of the cash flowing through the medium, a disproportionate amount of it seems to rest in the hands of a comparatively small group of people at the very top of the field. Enterprising young creatives, or even those just looking for a few hearty meals and a few months of rent, don't have it easy when it comes to reaching their goals.
The task is often even more challenging for marginalized creatives — they often lack access to the considerable resources available to their less marginalized peers, such as pre-existing, familial industry connections, generational wealth, or even just the subtle advantage of being seen by default as "one of the guys" upon entering a studio for an interview. To combat this, we founded The Rising Star Patronage Project: a not-for-profit, community-sourced fund established to support marginalized developers (specifically video game music composers) and aid them in making their way through the game industry.
This year, we were fortunate enough to collaborate with the GDC Festival of Gaming to provide festival passes to four marginalized composers working in the industry. GDC stands as one of the premier game industry events. It is one of the single best places to meet and form community with developers from all over the world, and the experience of our "Rising Star Scholars" is evidence of that.
"The most valuable thing I gained [from GDC] is definitely the connections I made with the other Rising Star Scholars," said Jeff Liu, a composer and animator most known for his work on Steven Universe, who was able to attend GDC for the first time thanks to our program. "Thanks to the Rising Star program, I was able to engage on a whole new level with like-minded creatives and technicians, and I feel inspired to make more cool art."
"I'm meant to be here," said Jamail. "We're all equals at this conference. I belong in any room I choose to step in … It was so great to see old friends and new friends, to meet some of my [online] friends [in person] for the very first time, and to rekindle my relationship[s] with all of my mentors. GDC is the perfect space to rekindle these relationships."
In an industry that's continuing to shift, we truly hope to keep providing those opportunities to the artists and developers of the future.
I first began attending GDC as a student in 2014 and have been back every year since. It has been an incredibly meaningful and useful part of establishing myself in the industry and having the chance to pay it forward to my peers has been an honor. It is extremely well aligned with our purpose as an organization and an opportunity I hope we're able to continue offering.
A Practical Approach to Diversity
I recently attended the first edition of Our Sonic Landscape, a new conference for game audio professionals hosted in Vancouver, BC. I was one of the speakers and I gave a presentation entitled, "The Solution is Money: A Practical Approach to Diversity in Game Audio."
As part of my research for that talk, I discovered that my hometown of Augusta, GA is rated as the 10th neediest city in the US, "ranking fifth worst for economic well-being, 17th in child poverty, and 37th in adult poverty" alongside being among "the top 30 for food insecurity and unemployment rates." These are things that I've either directly experienced or borne witness to during my time there.
Nonetheless, I decided to become a video game music composer at the age of 13, because I loved games, I loved music, and I loved video game music specifically. Quite frankly, this was a fairly impossible goal - but thanks to the fact that no one told me that (and the tacit support of a family that, through their attempts to help me achieve said goal, taught me that it must be possible) - I haven't given up.
The other huge factor in my success is, frankly, the amount of money that has been poured into this career on my behalf. As a native Augustan, I did not have access to financial resources, but programs existed that gave me the access I lacked.
A violinist came to my elementary school to give free lessons to interested students who wanted to learn string instruments. I studied at a fine arts school based in Augusta that was, mercifully, free to attend. The financial support afforded to Georgia residents who got good grades was immense - my time studying music at the University of Georgia was almost entirely paid for. When I transferred to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, I was able to graduate, in spite of skipping a semester due to lack of funds, because of a combination of loans and direct financial support given to me by family and friends. When I moved to Seattle, that pattern of support continued.
Without all of this support, I would not be here.
I don't think that video game music is the noblest pursuit in existence - in truth, I don't believe in a "noblest pursuit" in that sense - but I do think that, in an ideal world, humans would be free to choose for themselves how to spend their time and what to do with their lives.
I think that people are at their best: their happiest, their most inspired, their most considerate, and their most kind, when they are fulfilled in this way. I think our world is in desperate need of more people who are happy, inspired, considerate, and kind.
Economically disadvantaged individuals, who are more likely to be from marginalized groups, are going to need support to get there. I'm doing what I can to give it to them.
The Future of Rising Star
My hope is to build Rising Star into a non-profit over the next few years. There are advantages to being unincorporated, but in order to partner with more organizations and increase the scope of our impact, I believe this is a necessary step.
As illustrated above, the amount of support needed to change the life of even one marginalized composer is immense. It is possible, though, and while I still have plenty of hopes, dreams, and goals for my own career, I think my own work is a fine example of what we can do.
I am making it my personal mission to improve communications across the board for the fund. I think it's wonderful what we've been able to do and I think it'd be even more wonderful to keep our community informed.
We're launching another fundraiser for Rising Star this summer, and for the next four summers after that, with the hopes of fully establishing ourselves as a positive force in the game industry. Because this is a not-for-profit venture, and because of the scope of our mission, it's highly likely that we'll need to continue seeking support after that - but I hope that you see our cause as worthy and will come along with us on this journey. This philanthropy is work that I'm personally engaged in for a lifetime; so too is the musical work that our many marginalized peers compose.
As always, thank you all for your support, your time, and your attention.
