2023-24 Scholar Artist Merit Winner Loughlin Reid-Cleary
We are thrilled to introduce you to our one of our 2023-24 Scholar Artist winners, Loughlin Reid-Cleary, a senior from Lynbrook who is studying Audio Production at LIHSA!
The Scholar-Artist Awards program was developed by the Long Island Arts Alliance (LIAA) to recognize outstanding high school-age artists to the public in monthly profiles that will appear in Newsday and on Newsday.com. Scholar–Artists are chosen from five disciplines: Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Dance, and Media Arts. Selections are made from a pool of students nominated by Long Island’s high schools. In addition to the twenty students selected to receive Awards of Distinction, twenty additional students are selected to receive an Award of Merit at a year-end LIAA recognition event.
Loughlin is one of three LIHSA students who will be honored this year by LIAA as a Merit Award winner. He was nominated by Ms. Trout. Here’s a Q & A with Loughlin.
What does being named a Scholar-Artist or Merit Award winner mean to you?
It means I’m getting recognized for all of the hard work and dedication I’ve put into my craft and I am beyond honored and grateful for this opportunity.
Describe your experience so far at LIHSA. What are some of the highlights?
I love LIHSA, the environment and culture is amazing, and there are so many great opportunities to make art that I am just so grateful for. And it’s all tied together by the level of professionalism that having this sort of opportunity brings you. One of my highlights was when I or someone else performs at a showcase. It’s just a time for everyone to de-compress and come together and all be so proud of the level of the beauty that we can all create here. Another one of my highlights is when I spend a lot of time and effort on a project and it gets recognized for how much dedication went into it. Like when I make a beat and decide to show it to the class and everyone goes crazy because it’s good like that is always an amazing feeling.
Do you have any particular teachers or mentors who inspire you? Why?
One of my teachers who inspires me and will continue to inspire me is Mrs. Tourt, my audio teacher. She creates a rigorous and difficult course which is perfectly contrasted by the fact that it’s easy to get better. The fact it’s difficult creates the environment for self-growth and improvement. Mrs. Tourt makes the classroom feel like a second home to me and a lot of my peers. Another teacher who inspires me is my guitar teacher, Bradley Stewart. Bradley is a jazz guitarist who graduated from the Juilliard School with a degree in Jazz Composition and Performance on Guitar. He taught me mostly everything that I know about guitar, music theory, jamming with others in an ensemble, jazz, and music production. I truly would not be here today if it wasn’t for the fact that he started teaching me the guitar 3 years ago.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
In 10 years, I hope to work in a studio as an audio engineer, have my own commercial home studio, or both. I hope to be producing, writing, mixing, and mastering beats and songs for my clients, while I write and release my own music on the side.
What are your hopes and plans for the future?
Well right now I’m planning to get into Berklee College of Music. I am a senior at Lynbrook High School and my audition for Berklee is on November 11th, 2023. I’ve been preparing for this audition since May and want to attend Berklee for the Guitar and major in Jazz Composition, as well as Music Production and Engineering. While doing that, I hope to keep playing coffee shop gigs, like I have been for a couple of months now, at least until I start working at a recording studio.
How do you feel your experience at LIHSA has helped you to succeed?
My experience at LIHSA has fostered my growth in these areas and will continue to do so. Since joining LIHSA my life and my reputation shifted from “a pretty good student who does music as a hobby” to “that’s the guy who goes to BOCES for music”. It sort of got the ball rolling for my career in the future and I can’t wait to see what happens next.
Are you planning to attend college? If yes, where? What will you study?
I want to attend Berklee College of Music for guitar, and major in Jazz Composition and Music Production and Engineering.
What career path do you hope to follow?
I hope to be a music producer. I want to look at a well-known hip hop song’s credits and see my name – or better yet – my own music be the song that makes it into the mainstream and jumpstarts my career.
