Will Fisher Awarded 12th Annual Evelyn Buckstein Scholarship
Pictured (L-R): BMI Foundation President Deirdre Chadwick, BMI Foundation Vice President Samantha Cox, 2018 Evelyn Buckstein Scholarship winner Will Fisher, CCNY Professor Jonathan Pieslak, and CCNY Music Department Chair Shaugn O'Donnell.
The BMI Foundation hosted a reception on October 9, 2018, at Broadcast Music, Inc.’s New York City headquarters honoring the winner of the Evelyn Buckstein Scholarship, an award that pays full tuition for one City College of New York (CCNY) music student annually. Will Fisher, a Brooklyn-based multi-instrumentalist, producer, composer and DJ, was chosen as this year’s recipient.
“I am humbled to have been considered for this prestigious award,” said Fisher. “I've always been very grateful to be in a position to study music full-time, and now, the Buckstein Scholarship has given me the opportunity to continue my studies and further pursue my passion. This is confirmation that music can be more than just the thing I love most in this world, but it can also be a viable career choice.”
The Evelyn Buckstein Scholarship was endowed in 2007 by BMI Foundation Board Member, retired BMI Assistant Vice President and Counsel, and CCNY alumna Evelyn Buckstein. The program annually awards $6,000 to a gifted CCNY music student who aspires to a career in professional songwriting, composition, performance and/or music education.
Fisher began playing guitar when he was eight years old and, at 14, was accepted to Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts. There, he performed in a variety of different orchestras and ensembles, including Pit Orchestra, where he played guitar and bass in productions of Sweet Charity and Grease.
In 2015, Fisher was accepted into CCNY's Sonic Arts Center program to study music production and audio engineering. Around the same time, he began regularly DJ'ing at various venues in and around the New York City area — most notably at the Standard Hotel and the Bowery Electric, and as a live backing DJ for hip-hop artist Rah-C. Fisher is now in his final year at CCNY, where he is currently developing his Sonic Arts capstone project. He also plays bass for singer-songwriter Julian Giaimo's band and for local blues-rock band The Sweet High.
In addition, Fisher is working as a producer and engineer for several artists across a wide range of genres — his most recent credits have come as a co-producer on Rah-C's latest EP Grey Matter, and as a co-producer/engineer on the last three singles from alternative R&B artist sectiontoo. In the future, Fisher plans to continue working and growing as a producer, engineer and performer. He also hopes to do a project of solo material and to work as a composer and sound designer for film and television.
About the BMI Foundation
The BMI Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 1985 to encourage the creation, performance, and study of American music. The Foundation’s programs include competitive scholarships for songwriters and composers, operating grants for nonprofit arts presenters, and support for innovative music education initiatives in schools and communities across the country. For more information about the work of the Foundation, please visit our website at www.bmifoundation.org. For exclusive news and content, follow @bmifoundation on Twitter and Instagram, and like “BMI Foundation” on Facebook at facebook.com/bmifoundation.