A Nashville program that offers professional mentoring to underrepresented people in the country music industry has just announced the participants selected for its fourth cycle. That’s no small deal at a time when DEI initiatives are disappearing nationwide.
In her role as manager of Equal Access, Chantrel Reynolds is often out and about, overseeing networking events where program participants meet country music movers and shakers. But today, she’s in administrative mode at her desk.
“Oh, this is where I nerd out,” she says, “because I love a system.”
She scrolls down to the questions that Equal Access applicants answer online.
“Do they have a manager, a publicist or anybody that helps them?” she reads aloud. “How do they describe the music they create? What’s the main goal of your career?”
“We had around 100 applicants between managers and artists,” Reynolds says. “And this has been the highest amount of applicants so far. Also, we’ve had the lowest amount of spots this year.”
The program’s designed not only with performers, but business people in mind. In the past, they’ve had a cohort of six. This time, they only have the budget for four.
“So, I feel like this is getting even more competitive,” she reflects. “And it’s exciting to see more people applying from different places and just how the story of Equal Access is getting out there and growing.”
Cameo Carlson, a music industry veteran who’s currently CEO of a company called Mtheory, launched the program in 2022. She envisioned helping Black, brown, indigenous and LGBTQ participants — underrepresented in the industry and often shut out of traditional avenues of opportunity and mentoring — realize their professional ambitions and meet power players on all sides of the industry.
That would require stipends and a staff, Reynolds included. So Carlson found the funding through Leslie Fram, who was then an executive at Country Music Television. Fram says she saw real promise in the Equal Access approach: “A lot of DEI efforts started — and I’m not slamming anyone, honestly — but I do think some people were doing it to check a box. And we were like, ‘Well, let’s really do something that’s sustainable and can actually help some people.'”
So far, 18 performers and businesspeople have benefited in tangible ways — some landing publishing or distribution deals and others gaining the guidance they need to start new ventures and roll out projects.
Equal Access just announced its new participants, and Reynolds is still getting to know their back stories and ambitions:
“MŌRIAH Smallbone, she’s been doing music for a very long time. She started off in CCM. She’s an actress, and she is a Latin woman from California.”
“Michael Warren, (who’s) from Alabama. He moved to Nashville a while ago, and he blends a lot of R&B sounds with his (country) music.”
“On our manager front, we have Tanner Davenport. He is the co-founder of the Black Opry Revue. (He) has been in Nashville, working in management, for years now. Kohl Almire is a trans man from Nashville, (who) has been working in management with Red Light and has started (his) own company Under Color Management.”
Reynolds sees this as a particularly important time for Almire to join Equal Access, since he’s the program’s first trans member.
“In this climate, as trans rights are being stripped away, I think being able to support him is going to be phenomenal, especially in the country music space,” she says.
It wasn’t solely up to the Equal Access leaders to select the cohort. They relied on review boards to help make the decisions. Turning people down was tougher than ever, Reynolds says, since there’s less assistance available to them in the industry than there was just a few years ago: “I’ve seen a lot of programs, especially in Nashville, that are not existing anymore. That is why we have more people applying, because we are one of the last, or one of the few, that are still remaining.”
And since Fram is no longer with CMT, a leading sponsor, Reynolds’ colleagues are in serious fundraising mode.
“They’re going to banks,” she says. “They’re going to brand partnerships. We’re exploring every single angle. And I think because we are people that think outside the box, that’s something that we’re pretty skilled to figure out how to do. We’re still going in our fourth year, and I think we will definitely still be going next year.”