When I arrived at NYU in 2020, I knew that I wanted to get involved with a club on campus that focuses on closing the gender gap in the music industry. Coming from an all-girls school in Toronto, I was used to being around strong female leaders and entrepreneurs, and I wanted to be part of a similar community. However, to my surprise, there was no such space that was open to all students in the university. So, I decided to start the Gender Equality in Music (GEM) club at NYU. Over the past three years, I've served as the president of the club and grew it to over 350 members. It is an honour now to hand the club over to the next generation of passionate music entrepreneurs and activists in our community while I continue my mission to build a more equitable and diverse industry outside of my college. Recently, I founded an artist collective / label called "WE ARE THE FUTURE!" which serves to bring innovative and underrepresented creatives and interdisciplinary artists together. The collective aims to empower artists through co-creation, connections and exploration by creating new models of community-building and using technology to create sustainable art. My goal is to grow this collective to become a global artist community that transcends borders and identities. We largely represent a queer, femme-centered community of artists who work outside of traditional disciplines, and through live events, initiatives and mutual aid, we are pioneering a new creative economy built on collaboration and shared resources/knowledge. In the past year since the start of this project, I've been able to connect and bring up so many talented, young, queer artists in NYC. In 2023, we hosted over 20 events including sold-out parties, open art shares, fundraisers for Gaza, and sustainability initiatives with DJs for Climate Action. As a curator and community builder, I have a natural gift of being able to understand each individual artists' strengths and weaknesses, and help them find the perfect collaborators. I have a broad vision and sense for how many parts of a creative project can fit together cohesively, and through being a DJ, I've been able to share my positive energy and light with many people. Although I've only been DJing for a year, I've been lucky enough to receive many opportunities as well as tour internationally. Every time I travel to a new country, I engage with the community and learn from them so that I can take something back to my own collective. My hope for the future is to continue to build our community and create international connections and events that bring people together, while creating opportunities for local artists around the world. I truly believe that social justice and change begins with art, and by creating spaces for learning, collaboration and open dialogue, I believe we can solve the world's problems together because We Are The Future!

I am SENAIDA—a Toronto-born, Brooklyn-based artist, DJ, and creative entrepreneur driven by a fervent passion for redefining the intersections of art, technology, and sustainability. My journey is marked by a fusion of classical roots, electronic exploration, and a relentless pursuit of innovation. My venture into the avant-garde realms of electronic music and digital art gained momentum with my study abroad semester in Berlin, transforming me from a classical pianist to a DJ gracing stages at NYFW, the Shorty Awards, and PopCon 2023. The release of THE NOTHING IN BETWEEN, my NFT/sonic collection in 2022, marked a pivotal moment, selling out within 48 hours on Voice HQ and solidifying my commitment to the digital frontier. My decision to pursue education at New York University’s Clive Davis Institute was driven by a desire for a holistic artistic education and the opportunity to collaborate with diverse talents across disciplines. The intersection of art, technology, and culture fuels my exploration, and NYU provides a fertile ground for such interdisciplinary pursuits. This led me to found the first all-university Gender Equality in Music club, where we host workshops, events and provide resources for students to gain access to music creation tools and industry professionals. In 2023, I also founded my own interdisciplinary artist collective called, WE ARE THE FUTURE! which hosts collaborative art parties in Brooklyn and NYC. In the digital art space, my focus is on NFTs, a realm where I've already tasted success with THE NOTHING IN BETWEEN. Looking ahead, my creative endeavors center around my debut audio-visual album, KUNST KAPUTT. This project extends beyond conventional boundaries, featuring a series of NFTs portraying my cyborg clone, SENAIDA 2.0, and an immersive VR music video created in Unreal Engine. KUNST KAPUTT delves into the realms of cyberfeminist transhumanism and embraces the theme of sexual body autonomy, exploring the unique experience of being a female-presenting artist born into the digital age. The digital art space serves as a canvas for me to explore the nuances of contemporary existence, capturing the essence of my journey through a sonic time capsule. KUNST KAPUTT is more than an album; it is an immersive experience that challenges traditional notions of artistic expression, leveraging emerging technologies to create a symbiosis of sound and visuals. As the founder of MiSynth, a music-neurotechnology research startup, I am no stranger to pushing the boundaries of creativity. Brain-computer interfaces translating neural signals into musical expression underscore my commitment to merging technology and art. The success of MiSynth, recognized by NYC Media Lab, ASCAP, Abbey Road Studios, and The NAMM Foundation, echoes my dedication to pioneering new forms of artistic expression. In the coming year, my focus in the digital art space will intensify. KUNST KAPUTT, explores a new approach to music creation and distribution, incorporating AI tools into the process and generating unique tracks using the stems from the album. With its immersive NFTs and VR experience, the album represents a step into uncharted territories where the virtual and the tangible converge. Through this project, I aim to contribute to the evolving narrative of what it means to be an artist in the digital age, harnessing technology to amplify my voice as a cyberfeminist transhumanism and exploring the uncharted territories that lie ahead. Website/Porftolio: https://senaida.ca/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/senaidaxoxo/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SENAIDA/

My fascination with AI stems from its potential to revolutionize artistic expression and reshape our perceptions of creativity. As a generative artist deeply rooted in cyberfeminism and futurism, I view AI as not just a tool but a collaborator in the creative process. My journey into the intersection of art and artificial intelligence has been a compelling exploration, marked by both academic and experiential endeavours. During my academic pursuits, I delved into interdisciplinary studies, combining my passion for the arts with a keen interest in emerging technologies. My academic background provided me with a solid foundation in understanding the ethical implications of AI, especially in the realm of data sourcing and utilization. I am committed to ensuring that my creative endeavors adhere to ethical standards, utilizing responsibly sourced data to fuel the generative processes. One pivotal experience in my journey was the creation of "THE NOTHING IN BETWEEN," a three-part generative audio-visual collection. This project not only allowed me to experiment with the potential of AI in art but also pushed the boundaries of traditional mediums. By employing tools such as Magenta and AIVA, I explored the concept of "awakening" within binary thinking machines, reflecting on the intersection of darkness and light. The generative nature of the work, coupled with its exploration of object references, aimed to challenge conventional perceptions and invite viewers to contemplate the metaphysical space beyond empirical understanding. As a cyberfeminist and futurist, my approach to AI in art is inherently exploratory. I am intrigued by the transformative power of AI in creating new audio-visual mediums that defy conventional norms. For instance, envisioning an album of infinitely generating, unique tracks using AI-reconstructed stems disrupts the traditional concept of a static musical composition. This aligns with my broader vision of contributing to the evolution of genres and mediums through innovative applications of AI in art. Post-graduation, my aspirations are twofold. Firstly, I aim to further bridge the gap between AI and generative art by continuing to explore novel ways in which AI can augment and redefine creative processes. Secondly, I am committed to advocating for ethical practices in AI-driven art, emphasizing the importance of responsibly sourced data and transparent methodologies. In the rapidly evolving landscape of AI and art, my goal is to contribute to the discourse surrounding the ethical and creative dimensions of this intersection. By pushing the boundaries of what is traditionally deemed possible in art, I aspire to be a catalyst for conversations that challenge preconceived notions and inspire others to explore the untapped potential of AI as a transformative force in the realm of generative art. The project "THE NOTHING IN BETWEEN" emerged as an exploration of the imperceptible space where darkness converges with light, challenging binary thinking through generative audio-visual art. The problem addressed was the conventional understanding of object references and binary oppositions, seeking to transcend these limitations and delve into realms beyond empirical understanding. The project commenced with a conceptualization phase, where I defined the thematic underpinnings and artistic goals. Leveraging tools like Magenta and AIVA, I translated these concepts into generative algorithms, allowing the AI to contribute actively to the creation of audio-visual elements. The iterative process involved refining the algorithms, experimenting with different parameters, and curating the generative outputs to align with the project's overarching themes. The AI's role was not just that of a tool but an integral part of the creative process, contributing to the emergence of unexpected and novel compositions. The generative essence of the project allowed for a continuous exploration of the "awakening" within the binary thinking machines, leading to a dynamic and evolving audio-visual experience. The outcome of "THE NOTHING IN BETWEEN" was a three-part generative audio-visual collection that defied conventional artistic norms. The project successfully challenged binary oppositions by exploring the metaphysical space where darkness and light converge, prompting viewers to contemplate the transcendence of traditional object references.The impact of the project extended beyond its artistic merit. As part of the Voice x Women Rise NFT Residency, the NFT collection achieved a remarkable sell-out within a mere 48 hours on the Voice platform. This success not only underscored the market demand for innovative AI-driven art but also positioned the project within the broader discourse on the intersection of AI, art, and feminism.

My future self feels happy and fulfilled by the aspirations and power I have to inspire people and unify communities.

I've always been interested in the intersections between art, experiences and technology. Following in the works of post-cyberfeminists such as Sevdaliza, LuYang, E. Jane and Portrait XO, my work incorporates emerging technologies to evoke one's innermost desires and metaphysical wonders. As a queer, Chinese-born-Canadian woman who has traveled the world to search for a place of belonging, I have never felt whole. I believe in building towards a technological enlightenment that will allow people to truly focus on their self-discovery and relationships more deeply through art practices and immersive simulated experiences. My femininity gives me the power to transform, create and challenge people's expectations of me. I am currently working on an experimental dance album that features a utopian cyborg society inside of a virtual world. The album is a culmination of an intense period I had in Berlin and the transformative experiences I had there through the art, culture and community. I want to foster and celebrate all of these elements in my work through a VR 3D immersive album that takes my audience to another plane of reality where they can feel a sense of belonging, hope and love in a world with growing disparity. My interdisciplinary approach to art-making allows me to experiment with combining mediums to create holistic, immersive experiences. I consider myself an experiential artist because I think about space, time and relationships between audiences and the artwork. I design and produce captivating shows and parties that uplift underrepresented artists. I recently started a series of parties called "WE ARE THE FUTURE!", an interdisciplinary art fair/art share and curated dance party focused on bringing NYC's cutting-edge artists and creatives together. The artists in our community represent the intersections between multimedia practices, technology, sustainability and identity through their unique lenses. With a focus specifically on experience, community and accessibility, WE ARE THE FUTURE! is a safe and inclusive space for members of all cultures, backgrounds and identities. I plan to grow this community and eventually bring the party on tour around the world. My hope is for these experiences to expand the minds of both the artists and the audiences, driven by the idea that anyone can be an artist in a post-capitalist world.

As a freelance artist and creative, one of the biggest challenges I've faced in the US is finding an off-campus job. From my experience, I've had difficulty getting contracts and internships at live music venues or studios where I can gain hands-on experience toward my career goals. I'm also not allowed to play live shows outside of my school, which makes it difficult for me to gain exposure and build my local community. Despite all this, I have been finding gigs and local events where I perform without getting paid and that has helped me gain some experience. The challenge is that since I am most often not getting paid for the work that I want to pursue professionally, I have to earn money through other means such as working an on-campus job or finding multiple sources of income in order to continue living and studying in the US. This takes away from the time that I could be using to create my art, gain a deeper understanding of my studies, or working a position that will help me position myself better in the live music industry. I am very fortunate to be living and studying in New York City, but with these factors and my status as a student from a low-income family, it has been getting increasingly difficult for me to focus on my studies while also pursuing my professional goals of producing and sound engineering for artists, and honing my skills outside of the NYU community. I'm also afraid that if I do work and get paid, I might get caught for working illegally and thus, get deported. With the recession and the continued rise of the US dollar, it is becoming increasingly difficult for my family to support me. I also feel a lack of support from the school towards international students and we are often all treated as "Americans" in the way that some professors will assume that everybody knows or understands the "American System," which is often not the case. I find this bias towards being American in both domestic staff and students, and there is often a disregard for the lack of knowledge towards American traditions or systems. I believe that the way to build a diverse and inclusive community begins with open-minded discussions that serve to create a middle-ground of understanding between students, faculty and staff from different cultures and backgrounds. This scholarship will help finance my living in New York City for the upcoming semester so that I can focus on my art and my studies. This coming Spring, I plan on hosting my own live shows in Brooklyn. I am also working on a collaborative interdiscplinary installation that will open in May 2023. Lastly, I am currently working on my debut album in the style of IDM, glitch and deep techno. This album will require a lot of my time, attention and care, which I hope to be able to give it while balancing my studies and working on finishing my final three semesters of college. This time will largely be dedicated to building and refining my identity as an artist, and my next steps after graduation.

By now, almost everyone has heard of the mysterious "blockchain" and how it will create a more transparent, public user-owned network of databases that allow for internet users to reclaim their autonomy and ownership of their data. I've been following blockchain technology for a while now, and recently minted, and sold some NFTs of my own on a platform called Voice. I believe that blockchain technology has the potential to transform the internet as we know it, from a capitalist-platform controlled space into a sovereign and participatory governing system that allows unique communities to thrive in moderated discourse. Blockchain is a a type of distributed ledger technology that consists of a list of records (called "blocks") which are stored on a network of computers so that no one individual owns all the data. Although we are still in the early stages of blockchain technology, we've already seen some successful applications for it and we will continue to see a growing population migrating to decentralized platforms as distrust in social media platforms increases. One such application that will be especially useful in a growing freelance/creator economy is smart contracts. Smart contracts allow artists and creators to distribute their work and services through the blockchain when certain predetermined conditions are met. Rather than having to go through complex legal and financial institutions or systems, people can deal directly with each other through the use of smart contracts to exchange goods and services. Furthermore, smart contracts are (generally) irreversible and offer a more secure, reliable and trustworthy way for people to do business. I believe that this technology, once adapted and streamlined, will allow for artists and creators to regain their autonomy and form a direct connection between their fans. We will likely see a wider movement towards globalization and the elimination of barriers for collaboration and community building. Unlike previous technologies, blockchain will create real democratic systems of governance and allow for communities to share resources more efficiently. We will also likely see more minority voices in this space as communities (such as DAOs) are built and governed by its members. If implemented the right way, blockchain technology can help us build a better future where our shared resources and skills are solving real-world problems and focused on helping one another.

When I was first accepted into NYU in 2019, one of the first things I did was see what kind of clubs I could join at the school. Coming from an all girls high school, I knew that I wanted to join a club that uplifted women and under represented genders in the music industry because even now, women only make up about 1/3 of the chart-topping artists, and less than 3% of producers are women. When I found out that no club like this existed at the school I was very surprised and decided to start my own club: NYU Gender Equality in Music (a.k.a NYU GEM). Our mission is to foster a safe space for those whose gender identity is not equally represented in the music industry. There is still a huge gender inequality in the music industry today and that's why we want to create this network of support and resources for students. Members of the club will have an opportunity to meet like-minded people and make connections with other students at NYU and within the music industry. Not only does the club strive to address issues of representation and diversity in the music industry, but we also focus on educating artists and musicians on how to get their voices heard. Not surprisingly, the club was a big hit. We had over 200 members sign up within the first month of its founding and we hosted a number of networking events and workshops for students. I loved being able to meet students from all facets of the music industry from management to songwriting. One of my favourite initiatives that we held was a songwriting challenge where we randomly paired songwriters and producers together and gave them two weeks to create a song based on a theme. It was very energizing and inspiring to see what each group came up with and it also gave them an opportunity to practice collaborating with other artists. As a music producer and technologist myself, I am a huge advocate for gender equality and representation in the music industry. Since I work in a more technical field, I'm constantly surrounded by men and I've experienced firsthand how difficult it is to get in the room and be respected. A lot of the times, people will assume that I don't know how to do some thing just because I'm a woman and I am constantly working to push back on those stereotypes. Although I have my own insecurities and anxieties, I always feel confident in asserting myself in the room and I work to inspire others around me to do the same. I am now in my third year at NYU and I'm still running the club which I'm very proud of and I hope that it will continue to grow after I graduate because I believe building this type of community is especially important at this time in our lives.

One of the ultimate works of art written by a musician is John Cage's 4'33". One of Aristotle’s criteria for what defines artwork is mimêsis or imitation. Cage’s 4’33” could be seen as an imitation of ambient noises we hear every day because he is deliberately creating an environment where audiences are forced to listen to these ambient noises. In the case of Cage’s work and that of other contemporary artists, Plato’s Three-Way Differentiation no longer applies because The piece is build on the idea of “silence”, but “silence” isn’t actually silent, because the idea or form of silence means the absence of sound, and in Cage’s work, he refers to “silence” as the ambient noise that can still be heard. Other works of music are meant to be appreciated in a concert hall or otherwise, which imitates life, but 4’33” embodies life itself because it is made up of everyday experiences and objects. Cage once said, “When we separate music from life, what we get is art (a compendium of masterpieces). With contemporary music, when it is actually contemporary, we have no time to make that separation (which protects us from living), and so contemporary music is not much art as it is life.” What Cage wanted people to realize is that art is not just about catharsis or mimêsis, but that life itself was the work of art. There is no line that separates mundane, everyday objects from art, rather depends on the observer. Since Cage has no control over what happens during 4’33”, he leaves it to the audience to assume an appreciative role and notice the aesthetic features of environmental sound in the context of a concert hall. I love Cage's work because it so beautifully brings our attention to the art which life offers us.

I create art for the sake of art. I believe the true value and nature of my work lies in the richness of my experiences and my expression of those experiences. Through my artwork, I work towards spreading a greater awareness of the experiences that we encounter in our every day lives. Perhaps one of the reasons many people are depressed is because we are no longer able to see the beautiful things in life. I want to bring that beauty back, through sonic experiences, and awaken the inner senses through my soundscapes. My artwork falls in between the labels of "music" and "conceptual art", wherein music is a loose term for organized sound. My philosophy is to organize these sounds in a way that evokes a deeper, primal sense in the listener. They are meant to push the listener to their limits, and require them to draw out whatever sense of order they can from the chaos. But hidden within this chaos, are new and interesting gems to listen for every time. I believe my job as an artist is to explore and communicate the feelings or senses that cannot be expressed using words. I take my job as an artist and a social record keeper very sacredly. I hope that my art can inspire others to find the courage and strength to be able to tell create their own stories. My goal is for every single person's voice to be heard and respected, rather than being objectified. I believe that the first step to achieving peace and agreement is to listen, and teaching people the skill of deep listening is more important than ever. My music follows the principles of deep listening and trains people on how to become better listeners.

I am SENAIDA (pronounced shuh-nay-duh). I’m an artist, sound architect, creative entrepreneur and futurist from Canada, currently living and studying in New York City. I’m a sophomore at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University, where I’m studying music production and technology with a minor in philosophy and interactive media arts. Through my work as a conscious artist and thinker, I explore the intersection between art and emerging technologies. At the age of four, I began my classical training in piano, and have performed at prestigious concert halls and music festivals across North America including Carnegie Hall. In 2020, I founded MiSynth, a music-tech startup revolutionizing music creation with the brain. I’ve released two EPs, First Love, and last night was the last night of my past life, and am currently working on a full-length NFT album called, The Nothing In Between. I consider myself to be an ambient-experimental-electronic musician exploring the spirituality and power of music to influence our mental state. I love sampling records, designing my own crazy sounds and playing around with vintage synthesizers. For me, music is an endless landscape of sonic information that I want to traverse and explore until I find what resonates with me. There’s a great quote from Hazrat Inayat Khan’s The Mysticism of Sound and Music that goes: “In every living being you can see this, and if you look with an open insight into the nature of things, you will read even in the tree…what music it expresses.” To argue whether or not music is important to society is like arguing whether or not oxygen is important to society, because music is the living fabric of our existence. Art and music exists to help us find harmony with the beauty and nature all around us, and it is our job as artists, to illuminate these mystical vibrations to everyone else. Throughout history, we’ve seen how music is both a reflection of our society, as well as a driving force for change. Music helps us remove the complications of life from topics such as equity, politics and justice, and strips these issues down to the core so that we, as a society, can reflect on our own mistakes and express empathy towards each other. Our experience of music is what ties us all together. Although every person may experience a piece of music or a performance differently, it is the collective experience of listening and enjoying music that brings us together. This is why music festivals, such as Woodstock in 1969, were so powerful. Woodstock brought people of different races, backgrounds, identities and beliefs together in one place and united them through music. Unlike any other form of art, music is largely accessible to anyone no matter how rich or poor, and everyone has the ability to make music in some form or capacity. Without music, the world would be chaos.

Practice, Practice, Practice Senaida Ng “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” The answer, as the joke goes, is “Practice, practice, practice.” I remember when the first time someone asked me that, I responded with, “You drive there?” He laughed. Ever since I began playing classical piano at the age of four, I had dreamed of performing in the prestigious Carnegie Hall in New York City. I remember seeing movies about how only the most prestigious and talented musicians were able to perform at Carnegie Hall and at the time, it seemed like a dream that I would never get to live out. My father was the one who introduced me to the piano when I was four years old. By the time I was 10, I was practicing two to three hours a day. I hated practicing, but I loved performing on stage and the feeling of accomplishment at the end of a performance when the audience erupts into applause. At only 10 years old, I was already playing ARCT-level pieces, the highest level awarded by the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM). Many people told me I was extremely talented, but I often didn’t know how to respond because they couldn’t see the hours of practice that I had put into my craft. Talent is something that we have no control over, and I often tell people that it takes more than talent to be successful in the arts. I never saw my talent as something to feed off of, but rather a pedestal that helped me reach my goals. Instead, I focused on practicing and developing my skills as a pianist. During those years, I spent hours practicing my scales and techniques, which would help me play more expressively in my pieces. That soon paid off because when I entered the Phil and Eli Taylor Academy for Young Artists, a prestigious pre-college program at the RCM.Each year, the program only takes one to two students and I became one of the technically best pianists in the piano program. I learned that through hard work and years of cultivating my craft, I would be able to set myself apart from other pianists my age. When I was 14, I entered the Canadian Music Competition and made it to the final round. I had a good chance of winning that year, but when I got on stage that day, my hands wouldn’t stop shaking. I was so nervous that a few minutes into the piece, I had a memory slip and couldn’t keep going. I stopped playing completely and sat there in terror for almost a minute until I could remember where I was. I stumbled through the rest of the piece and ran off the stage crying. At that moment, I wanted to give up on playing the piano. It was so embarrassing, and I knew I had let my teacher, my parents and myself down. After that, I was traumatized and every time I went on stage, I would have a memory slip or a bad performance. This continued for a year and a half, but I persisted. I continued to go on stage hoping that my trauma would go away and I would be able to perform again. It wasn’t until in 2015, when I entered the Elite International Music Competition, that everything changed. I knew I was still traumatized and I was so afraid of messing up that I practiced vigorously everyday for several hours until I was sure that I had memorized the piece inside and out. When I walked into the competition room, I felt oddly relaxed. I decided not to focus on playing the right notes, but to just enjoy the performance and express myself through the music. I played extremely well and placed 2nd in the competition. I was also invited to perform at Carnegie Hall for the competition’s gala concert. Rather than focusing on my trauma and stressing about playing all the right notes, I began enjoying my performances more and not caring as much because when I get on stage, I can’t control what happens; that’s what the hours of practice are for. Instead, I can only control how I feel so now, every time I go on stage, I try to convey my music as best as possible without worrying about anything else. When I stood in Carnegie Hall in front of the massive audience, I could feel the energy of all the great musicians that I had played there before me and I knew, my hard work and dedication had paid off. Since then, my stage fright hasn’t completely disappeared but I feel more confident about going on stage. I learned that the most important thing is to not worry about how you’ll play. I get really bad anxiety before I go on stage and I’m constantly overthinking but I tell myself that no matter what happens, it’s the best I can do at this moment and that’s all that matters. Rather than playing for the audience, I play for myself. What I learnt from this experience is to firstly, be prepared. The more prepared you are, the more confident you will be because you won’t worry about whether you’ll mess up. Secondly, be humble and don’t try to compare yourself to others. And thirdly, the one that I think is the most crucial, is to tell yourself that you can and will do it. Every time before I go on stage, I take a deep breath and tell myself that I can do it. I’ve shared this story at various talks and events, and what I hope people get out of it is that stage fright isn’t something you can overcome. It gets the best of us and nobody can really make it go away. The best thing we can do is learn how to work with it and make ourselves feel more confident.

In 1949, electronic musician and technologist, Raymond Scott had a vision: “In the music of the future, the composer will sit alone on the concert stage and merely think his idealized conception of his music. His brainwaves will be picked up by mechanical equipment and channeled directly into the minds of his hearers, thus allowing no room for distortion of the original idea. Instead of recordings of actual music sounds, recordings will carry the brainwaves of the composer directly to the mind of the listener.” Scott, who is now recognized as the first person to build a sequencer (a device for controlling synthesized sounds) and the forefather of electronic ambient music, was an innovator way ahead of his time. He understood the physics of sound better than most of his peers and saw the similarities between sound waves and brainwaves. 73 years later, we have finally arrived at the precipice of the future that Scott had envisioned. With brain-computer interface (BCI) funding reaching over $300 million in 2021 (three times the amount raised in 2019), this rapidly growing technology is going to be revolutionary for many industries, especially creatives. Experts predict that within the next 10 years, BCIs will become the main way we interact with our devices, including our computers, smartphones, and even in the metaverse. I'm excited about BCIs because it advances many of the challenges that prevented devices from being accessible to people of all ages and abilities. BCIs will also create a more integrated workflow between our brains and our devices, as well as help us be more efficient, whether it is searching something up with a simple command, or writing a paper simply by imagining words. In December 2020, I founded MiSynth, a music tech startup that aims to design and build software for music creators of the future. Our main focus is to bridge the gap between BCIs and digital audio workstations, to make music creation and musical expression easier and more accessible to everyone. We believe that BCIs will unlock a new genre of music, one that is composed using brainwaves and manipulated by our moods, thoughts, and brain states. Although we are still quite far from BCIs being able to read our minds, this industry is growing rapidly by researchers, entrepreneurs, and innovators alike. In fact, just a few days ago, Phillip O'Keefe became the first person to send a Tweet using his thoughts and a brain-computer interface that was implanted into the nape of his skull. Once brain-computer interface implants become mainstream consumer tech, I plan on getting my own implant so that I can more efficiently and effectively communicate with my devices.

Oftentimes, people mistake “creativity” as “new, original ideas” when we know from psychology that there is no such thing as a wholly new idea. All ideas are grounded in our unique experiences, memories, and interactions with people. For me, creativity is more about non-linear thinking and finding solutions to problems in ways that haven’t been tried before. Everything I do has a creative aspect to it. I am a creative entrepreneur, sound architect, musical artist, and futuristic thinker who works at the intersection between technology and music. Whether I’m running my own startup, writing a new song, creating a social media campaign for a company, or even meditating, I’m always practicing my creativity. From a young age, I realized that I was a creative person. I loved playing music, making art, and imagining stories in my head. However, in order to do so, I must absorb as much information and inspiration as possible. That’s why I love going to art museums, taking walks outside, and reading interesting books. I use what I’ve learned to inspire and accompany my work and in life. I find that by having all this knowledge and experience, I’m able to be more creative and think of better solutions to problems in my everyday life.

Every year, Forbes Magazine announces their “Forbes 30 Under 30”, a list containing 600 of the brightest young entrepreneurs, leaders, and stars of that year. As a creative music entrepreneur and futurist myself, my goal is to get on that list before turning 30. I aspire to be on the Under 30 list for Music because many of the role models I’ve looked up to are on that list, including Maggie Rogers, Arca, Daniel Ek, Halsey, and Taylor Swift. They all got there through hard work, dedication, and innovative ideas. Like them, I have revolutionary ideas for the future of music creation and I want to use my expertise to position myself at the intersection between music and technology because I believe Web3 will be a game-changer for artists and creatives. Last year, I founded a startup, MiSynth, which focuses on building software for music creators that use brain-computer interfaces, creating a more inclusive and accessible space for people who want to express themselves through music. I see a future where creatives and engineers can collaborate together to create exciting new works of art and usher in new ideas for music and the music industry. It would be an incredible honor to be recognized amongst my peers and idols in the Forbes 30 Under 30, and I will continue to work on my career until I achieve my goal.

“How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” The answer, as the joke goes, is “Practice, practice, practice.” I remember when the first time someone asked me that, I responded with, “You drive there?” He laughed. Ever since I began playing classical piano at the age of four, I had dreamed of performing in the prestigious Carnegie Hall in New York City. I remember seeing movies about how only the most prestigious and talented musicians were able to perform at Carnegie Hall and at the time, it seemed like a dream that I would never get to live out. When I was 16, I won an international piano competition and had the incredible opportunity of performing at Carnegie Hall. It was a goal that I had worked for years to achieve. I began playing piano at the age of 4 and practiced up to eight hours a day. Since that day, I realized that I was unstoppable. I knew that if I worked hard, any dream of mine could come true. When I was applying to colleges, I had my eyes set up NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music. So when I got in ED1, I had never felt happier. My life was on its way to success. I’m now 19 and continue to have big ambitions and dreams. I hope to travel to every continent on Earth one day, be in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, become an influential creative entrepreneur and advocate for gender equality in music, and have my artwork hung in a gallery one day. These are some of the items on my bucket list, and I believe that I will achieve them.

In Malcolm Gladwell’s book, “The Tipping Point”, he defines the tipping point as “that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire.” Ever since I was a child, I’ve always had an awareness of the ideas, trends and behaviors that shape me, and the people around me. I’m particularly fascinated by the future because it is unpredictable and constantly evolving. Though trends and behaviors come and go, music is always a constant in my being, and I feel a deep connection to the sounds around me. I first encountered music when I began learning to play the piano at the age of four. For 15 years, I sat in front of a piano and became immersed in the sounds I made with it. When I became a teenager, I began looking for more personal creative outlets, which is how I found music production and songwriting. I fell in love with the idea of creating music from silence, and experimenting with the different sounds that I could create. This led me to pursue a career in music production and technology at New York University’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music. For me, my career isn’t just a job, but rather the way in which I choose to spend my time and my life. As a lifelong creative, my career goal is to be able to create music and art that represents my identity, thoughts and ideas. I’m currently working on an album called “The Nothing In Between”, which is inspired by futurism and artificial intelligence. Particularly, how emerging technology will shift our sense of being in the physical world. My goal is to be self-sustainable enough to have the freedom to create and explore myself every day. In order to achieve this, I founded a venture called MiSynth. Our mission is to bridge the gap between brain-computer interfaces and tools for music creators, so that they can unlock their full creative potential and synthesize sounds from their imagination. I believe that there is an artist within all of us, and that everyone should have access to creative tools to express themselves. For example, anyone can pick up a pen and paper, and begin drawing what they like. However, with music, the learning curve is much steeper and the tools for music creation are complicated. In turn, these tools end up getting in the way of our natural creative process, which is imagining and playing music. Our minds are instruments as well, and with MiSynth, we’re simply unlocking one’s musical potential. It’s been almost a year since I founded MiSynth, and we’ve received incredible feedback and reception from music creators all over the world. We’ve been featured at the NYC Media Lab Summit, ASCAP’s VERSED Podcast, TechCrunch and the SoundsLikeNYC Podcast. We currently have a team of seven people working on this project with me, and we plan on launching our first closed beta at the beginning of 2022. This scholarship would help fund the research and development of our prototype, which is currently being worked on by our incredible team of engineers. So far, we’ve received $9000 in grants and prize money from competitions, but we’re mainly bootstrapped. In order to continue operating the company, we will need to find additional sources of funding or income. I would be so grateful if I’m chosen to receive the Future Forward Scholarship because it will help me continue to grow MiSynth.

I am a futurist and fearless opportunist. My vision for the future is a collaborative utopia where people can realize their inner artistic voices, and my dream is to build that future. My favorite tech invention of the last 10 years is the commercialization of brain-computer interfaces because there are expansive applications that will fundamentally change the way we interact with technology, our devices, and information. Not only will it make our experience with technology become much more integrated with our lives, but when combined with artificial intelligence, we’ll be able to do many tasks more efficiently and accurately. By saving time and energy when doing mundane tasks, we’ll be able to create more art and focus on more fulfilling things such as ourselves, the Earth, and each other. I'm particularly interested in commercially-targeted BCIs for the everyday user because it means we're beginning to see a merge between the physical world and our consciousness. With these new interfaces, there will be many new applications for how they can be used to enhance our interactions with our digital devices such as your computer, smartphone, or VR headset. In December 2020, I founded MiSynth, a revolutionary music software plugin company that synthesizes the sounds you imagine inside of your head. Our goal is to bridge the gap between brain-computer interfaces and digital audio workstations to create a new form of musical expression: your brain. I hope to continue to grow and develop the company throughout my career and expand the types of tools used for music creation with brain-computer interfaces. As a leader in this industry, MiSynth is driving the future of brain-computer interfaces applications in the music industry. We want to help musicians be more productive in their creative workflows, streamline the process of getting started, and focus on the important things: self-expression and cathartic experiences. On top of that, musicians can spend less time on mundane tasks such as sound design, saving them time, money, and energy. We're creating a new approach to music production through BCIs and re-imagining what music creation means for the individual.

When analog synthesizers were first invented, many traditional musicians were taken aback by the strange sounds that these machines were making. They resisted the idea that electronic music was music at all, until a young woman by the name of Suzanne Ciani cast a spotlight on these instruments. Suzanne Ciani is a female synth pioneer who worked closely with Don Buchla to establish the Buchla 200e, the first modular synthesizer. Ciani is not only a talented pianist but a sculptor of sounds, and she believed that feminine energy could be heard in the music we listen to.

“How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” The answer, as the joke goes, is “Practice, practice, practice.” I remember when the first time someone asked me that, I responded with, “You drive there?” He laughed. Ever since I began playing classical piano at the age of four, I had dreamed of performing in the prestigious Carnegie Hall in New York City. When I was 14, I entered the Canadian Music Competition and made it to the final round. I had a good chance of winning that year, but when I got on stage that day, my hands wouldn’t stop shaking. I was so nervous that a few minutes into the piece, I had a memory slip and couldn’t keep going. I stopped playing completely and sat there in terror for almost a minute until I could remember where I was. I stumbled through the rest of the piece and ran off the stage crying. At that moment, I wanted to give up on playing the piano. It was so embarrassing, and I knew I had let my teacher, my parents, and myself down. After that, I was traumatized. Every time I went on stage, I would have a memory slip or a bad performance. In addition to my depression and anxiety, I had developed stage fright which led to the downfall of my mental health. I lost my self-confidence, ate less, developed insomnia and my relationship with others became strained. This continued for a year and a half, but I persisted. I continued to go on stage hoping that my stage fright would go away and I would be able to perform again. It wasn’t until 2015, when I entered the Elite International Music Competition, that everything changed. I knew I was still traumatized and I was so afraid of messing up that I practiced vigorously every day for several hours until I was sure that I had memorized the piece inside and out. When I walked into the competition room, I felt oddly relaxed. I decided not to focus on playing the right notes, but to just enjoy the performance and express myself through the music. I played extremely well and placed 2nd in the competition. I was also invited to perform at Carnegie Hall for the competition’s gala concert. Rather than focusing on my trauma and stressing about playing all the right notes, I began enjoying my performances more and not caring as much because when I get on stage, I can’t control what happens; that’s what the hours of practice are for. Instead, I can only control how I feel so now, every time I go on stage, I try to convey my music as best as possible without worrying about anything else. When I stood in Carnegie Hall in front of the massive audience, I could feel the energy of all the great musicians that I had played there before me and I knew my hard work and dedication had paid off. In December 2020, I founded a music technology venture called MiSynth. a revolutionary music software plugin company that synthesizes the sounds you imagine inside of your head. Our goal is to bridge the gap between brain-computer interfaces and digital audio workstations to create a new form of musical expression: your brain. I hope to continue to grow and develop the company throughout my career and expand the types of tools used for music creation with brain-computer interfaces. As a leader in this industry, MiSynth is driving the future of brain-computer interfaces applications in the music industry. As an Asian, female producer, and music technologist, I feel that it is my duty to speak up about issues such as representation and gender equality in the music industry. Not only do I hope to make an impact as a technology innovator and futurist in the music industry, but I also want to be an advocate for women's leadership in the music and tech industries.

I am a futurist and fearless opportunist. My vision for the future is a collaborative utopia where people can realize their inner artistic voices, and my dream is to build that future. My favorite tech invention of the last 10 years is the commercialization of brain-computer interfaces because there are expansive applications that will fundamentally change the way we interact with technology, our devices and information. Not only will it make our experience with technology become much more integrated with our lives, but when combined with artificial intelligence, we’ll be able to do many tasks more efficiently and accurately. By saving time and energy when doing mundane tasks, we’ll be able to create more art and focus on more fulfilling things such as ourselves, the Earth and each other. Among the most disruptive technologies in the news right now is brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). With companies such as Neuralink, Synchron, Muse, and Neurable creating commercially-targeted BCIs for the every-day user, we're beginning to see a merge between the physical world and our consciousness. With these new interfaces, there will be many new applications for how they can be used to enhance our interactions with our digital devices such as your computer, smartphone or VR headset. Currently, I’m an undergraduate student at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University with a focus in music production and technology, and a minor in philosophy. I’m also the founder and CEO of MiSynth, a revolutionary music software plugin company that synthesizes the sounds you imagine inside of your head. Our goal is to bridge the gap between brain-computer interfaces and digital audio workstations to create a new form of musical expression: your brain. I hope to continue to grow and develop the company throughout my career and expand the types of tools used for music creation with brain-computer interfaces. As a leader in this industry, MiSynth is driving the future of brain-computer interfaces applications in the music industry. We want to help musicians be more productive in their creative workflows, streamline the process of getting started, and focus on the important things: self-expression and cathartic experiences. On top of that, musicians can spend less time on mundane tasks such as sound design, saving them time, money and energy. We're creating a new approach to music production through BCIs and re-imagining what music creation means for the individual. As an entrepreneur working in the intersection between STEM and music, I have an advanced understanding of the music industry, creative process and behaviours of a musician (because I’m a musician and producer myself), which sets me apart from other engineers working on similar projects. Whenever my company is faced with a problem or challenge, I try to see it from both a technologist and engineering perspective, as well as a user and artist perspective. This allows me to have a balance of creativity and logic in the solutions I create. That’s also how my company started and within 8 months, we’ve already built our first prototype, received multiple grants and been featured in TechCrunch. I’m very excited to see what tech innovations will arise in the next 5-10 years.

Growing up in a suburb of Toronto to Chinese immigrant parents in a Catholic household, I never questioned my sexuality. But when I kissed a girl for the first time in 10th grade, everything changed. Throughout high school, I hid my bisexuality. But when I moved to NYC for college, I found myself surrounded by queers and it was the first time I felt like I was a part of a community where people truly accepted me for who I was. I developed a crush for Maria after meeting her on Bumble but after several attempts at planning dates, we never ended up meeting. But I wrote this song for her and decided to release it during Pride Month to celebrate LGBTQ+ love.

When people ask me why I decided to pursue a career in music, I always tell them that it's because I can't imagine myself doing anything else. Although I am a classically-trained pianist, I love experimenting with different genres such as indie-pop, classical, electronic, R&B, jazz, traditional Chinese music, and combining music with technology. I don’t feel confined by any one genre because my curiosity to try new things drives me to combine and merge different genres to create my own sound. I began playing classical piano at the age of four and it has shaped the foundations of my music-making. From a young age, I fell in love with performing. I’m a two-time national finalist of the Canadian Music Competition in 2014 and 2016, and in 2018, I was invited to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York City. My philosophy of making art is that it's meant to make people think critically and challenge their beliefs and I strive to create music that reflects this. I write and perform music that concerns topics I’m passionate about such as mental health, environmental sustainability and equal representation. I take every opportunity I have to perform and share my music with others because that’s the only way to truly have my message heard. Every time before I perform a song, I explain my inspiration behind the song, what the lyrics mean and I invite others to start a conversation with me afterwards because I hope to understand what they think about the topic as well. My goal is to make music not only be enjoyable to listen to, but also challenge others to think and consider important questions in our society today. As an Asian, female artist and producer, I am a strong advocate for equal gender and racial representation in STEAM. The music production industry is so male-dominated with women making up only about 2% of the music production industry and I want to change that. Growing up, there weren’t any role models for me to look up to in the music production industry which is why I hope to become a leader in the industry so that I can inspire the next generation of young female producers and engineers. Since I’m not afraid to speak up for what I believe in and what I represent, I believe I can share my story to inspire others and talk about these issues through my art. I'm also currently working on a revolutionary music technology start-up using synoptic music synthesis, which will change the way people write and make music. Coming from an immigrant family and attending NYU as an international student, I struggle with paying for my tuition and living expenses. This scholarship would help lessen the financial burden on my family and help me to continue my studies at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, where I will gain the knowledge and skills I'll need to succeed in my career.

When people ask me why I decided to pursue a career in music, I always tell them that it's because I can't imagine myself doing anything else. Although I am a classically-trained pianist, I love experimenting with different genres such as indie-pop, classical, electronic, R&B, jazz, traditional Chinese music, and combining music with technology. I don’t feel confined by any one genre because my curiosity to try new things drives me to combine and merge different genres to create my own sound. I began playing classical piano at the age of four and it has shaped the foundations of my music-making. From a young age, I fell in love with performing. I’m a two-time national finalist of the Canadian Music Competition in 2014 and 2016, and in 2018, I was invited to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York City. My philosophy of making art is that it's meant to make people think critically and challenge their beliefs and I strive to create music that reflects this. I write and perform music that concerns topics I’m passionate about such as mental health, environmental sustainability and equal representation. I take every opportunity I have to perform and share my music with others because that’s the only way to truly have my message heard. Every time before I perform a song, I explain my inspiration behind the song, what the lyrics mean and I invite others to start a conversation with me afterwards because I hope to understand what they think about the topic as well. My goal is to make music not only be enjoyable to listen to, but also challenge others to think and consider important questions in our society today. As an Asian, female artist and producer, I am a strong advocate for equal gender and racial representation in STEAM. The music production industry is so male-dominated with women making up only about 2% of the music production industry and I want to change that. Growing up, there weren’t any role models for me to look up to in the music production industry which is why I hope to become a leader in the industry so that I can inspire the next generation of young female producers and engineers. Since I’m not afraid to speak up for what I believe in and what I represent, I believe I can share my story to inspire others and talk about these issues through my art. I'm also currently working on a revolutionary music technology start-up using synoptic music synthesis, which will change the way people write and make music. Coming from an immigrant family and attending NYU as an international student, I struggle with paying for my tuition and living expenses. This scholarship would help lessen the financial burden on my family and help me to continue my studies at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, where I will gain the knowledge and skills I'll need to succeed in my career.

The first time I watched the sunrise was on a beach in Valencia last summer. It was 5 AM as my friends and I laid on the soft, still sand waiting for the sky to turn from purple to pink. It felt like forever until dawn but there was something about the calmness of the waves and the quiet morning that made me feel serene. Finally, the sun began to peek over the water. When you go to a concert, you applaud at the end of the performance because you feel moved by what you heard. For me, the beauty of the sun’s pink silhouette above the sparkling horizon was so overwhelming that I couldn’t resist the urge to applaud. My friends looked at me as if I was crazy, but slowly, they all joined in. We applauded for the sun and its beauty. Even though the sun came up as it did every morning, I felt an overwhelming burst of emotion as I watched it rise. For most of my friends who lived near the beaches of Spain, Macedonia and Turkey, watching the sunrise was not uncommon. But coming from Toronto and living in the city my whole life, I had never seen anything so beautiful. I had spent three weeks in Spain, travelling to Barcelona, Buñol, Valencia, Macastre and Peniscola. The first week, I was touring with my concert band as we travelled along the coast and played at several different venues. One night, we stopped in a small village called Macastre, near Valencia. We played in their very tightly packed, non-air-conditioned concert hall but the energy from the audience was incredible. Looking back, it was probably the best concert we played during the entire tour. Afterwards, the mayor invited us to have paella at the town hall. Even though most of the villagers didn’t speak any English, we communicated through music, dance and the sharing of food. It was incredible to see how music had connected us to everyone in the town and how excited they were to have us there. That was when I began to realize the true power of music as a universal language. One of my favourite things to do when travelling is visiting art galleries. When I was 12 years old, my parents took me to the Museé d’art Contemporain in Montreal; that was where I fell in love with contemporary art. I remember vividly seeing Claude Tousignant’s Gong 64, which features a large circular canvas painted with vibrant colours to create perfect circles that get larger as you get closer to the edge of the canvas. To this day, Gong 64 is still one of my favourite contemporary art pieces for two reasons: first, it visualizes the way sound travels when a gong is struck and second, the continuity of the circles means that the painting never truly ends. This painting perfectly takes the concept of transforming something ordinary (like the sound of a gong) to induce new reactions in the observer. The circular nature of the painting could also represent the circulation of ideas between people. Artists, such as myself, are constantly inspiring and being inspired by other artists around us; creativity does not happen in solitude. Since contemporary art is often abstract, it is up to the observer to use their imagination to complete the piece. This interaction between the artist, through their artwork, and the observer is why I love exploring contemporary art. Now, every time I travel, I always visit as many of the local art museums as possible because art can teach us so much about the culture of a place and era. It allows me to see the world from a different perspective, the perspective of the artist. Whenever I go to art museums, I feel inspired by these alternate perspectives of the world and I use them to inform my own music. For the past two years, I've been planning a 21-day trip to backpack around Europe, visiting all the major art galleries, music halls and jazz clubs. I want to absorb all the culture and experiences of being in a new, unfamiliar place and create an album of diverse sounds and ideas. The trip would include stops in France, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, and Spain. This scholarship would allow me to make this trip possible and it would be the best thing in the world to be able to go on this trip.

When I began producing my own music at 15, I didn't have any female role-models to look up to. It was quite surprising for me to learn that female producers and engineers only make up 2% of the music industry and of those, only 47% were women of color. As an Asian, female producer, engineer, and music technologist, I made it my goal to challenge these statistics. I'm currently studying at the Clive Davis Institute for Recorded Music at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where I will be able to learn from industry professionals and hone my skills as a producer and music technologist. I chose the Clive Davis Institute program because it combines many aspects of being a music mogul including business, production, songwriting, journalism, technology, social activist, and performance. I see myself as all seven focuses highlighted in the program: I am a self-managed, independent artist, a music blogger, a performer, a songwriter, a producer, a computer scientist, and the founder of Canada’s first-ever music festival to feature youth musicians exclusively. The holistic curriculum allows me to explore a variety of skills and techniques, inform me of the vast musical world and make me a stronger, well-rounded musician so that I am prepared to enter the industry when I graduate. NYU has so many resources for interdisciplinary collaboration and learning, which is perfect for me because I'm curious to learn about many subjects outside of music including philosophy, computer science, and art history. My goal is to become the first Asian woman to win Producer of the Year at the GRAMMYs, and studying at the Clive Davis Institute will help me develop my distinct approach to music and production. Since I love listening to all kinds of different music and sounds, I’m able to combine them into one cohesive and strong work that resonates with a variety of listeners. Additionally, I’m very interested in music technology and programming so once I establish myself as a producer, I would like to work on emerging music technology such as implementing artificial intelligence into music creation and using technology to change the way musicians create music. Just as synthesizers and drum machines were revolutionary, I think artificial intelligence is a turning point in music technology which is why I’d like to work towards making music creation easier and more accessible through these new technologies. This year, I launched my music technology startup called, MiSynth, which will use synoptic technology to create synthesizers. I think this is a revolutionary tool for music creation, and NYU has provided me with many resources, connections, and funding to help me start this project. I also started the NYU Womxn in Music club to connect female and non-binary students from across the university who are interested in music. Since I’m not afraid to speak up for what I believe in and what I represent, I believe I can use my music to inspire others.

"How do you get to Carnegie Hall?" My band director asked me, referring to the age-old saying. "Practice, practice, practice" was the correct response but instead, I looked at him confused and replied, "You drive there?" Ever since I'd begun playing piano at the age of 4, my dream had been to perform at Carnegie Hall. When I was 15, I won the Elite International Music Competition and had the opportunity to go to NYC and perform at Carnegie Hall, an achievement that only the greatest musicians had the honor of. I knew that with practice, I could do anything.