What's happening? Recording a song in a professional studio alongside a Grammy-winning producer is not something that happens every day. That is what 25 students between the ages of 12 and 15 from Escuela Diego Vázquez in the Barriada Morales of Caguas experienced over three days, working with Marcos Sánchez, one of the producers behind artists such as Luis Fonsi, Kany García and Ednita Nazario.
The initiative is part of La Academia Móvil – Vagón Estudio from the Fundación Rimas, in partnership with Spotify, and functions as the mobile extension of La Academia, the foundation's flagship music and professional development program. With this stop at the Jardín Botánico de Caguas, the Fundación begins a tour through communities in several municipalities across Puerto Rico, bringing the studio on wheels.
Why does it matter? Beyond exposing young people to mentorship and professional music production, the project aims to bring visibility to the positive things happening in communities with vulnerable populations and "young people who, for social and socioeconomic reasons, also lacked access to these kinds of opportunities and experiences," Platea José Ramón Benítez, executive director of Fundación Rimas, said in an interview.
Before the wagon, the students had spent an entire semester working on their own project, called Influencers del Bien. For Benítez, watching them go from that to producing their own songs in three days, with no prior music experience, confirms that "every person, every young person, every child has that capacity, and they proved it."
The goal is not to train artists but to open a window onto the possibilities of the industry, from production and sound engineering to audiovisual communication. For many of these young people, it was the first time they had ever set foot in a professional recording studio.
For Yamira Flores, the foundation's director of programs, the challenge begins before the music, because the feelings of a teenager coming from a stigmatized community are often underestimated. That is why the goal is for "what the students are doing to be seen, for them to feel pride" and to know that they are "just as important and just as valuable as any of the artists from our founding house," she told PlateaPR on the last day of the first stop.
The Fundación maintains a permanent academy at Escuela Diego Vázquez, which holds an A rating in the School Profile Report for Puerto Rico published by the organization ABRE Puerto Rico. Flores described the area as "a beautiful community that needs resources."
Three days planned in detail
The wagon is the centerpiece of the experience, but the children are at the center. Every workshop, conversation, game and space was designed around them. The experience takes place across two areas that complement each other: in the vagón estudio the young people record, and in the workshop area the rest of the group works on other topics while waiting their turn.
The studio has everything needed for a professional recording. Its interior was designed by Matthew Burr, engineer and founder of San Juan Sound, the studio where part of the sound for Bad Bunny's "Baile Inolvidable" was captured.
As for the workshops, nothing was left to chance. On the first day, José Carlos Figueroa, a facilitator with Fundación Rimas, led a songwriting workshop that served as preparation, so the young people would arrive at the wagon with a rhythm in mind. From there, groups rotated from one day to the next, and each session closed the same way, with a check-in and a check-out, eating and spending time together.
The program operates by closed application to protect the experience and safety of the young participants, the Fundación Rimas said in a statement. Each stop is coordinated with a local partner, a municipality or community organization, that recruits participants, selects them based on socioeconomic vulnerability criteria and provides a safe space for the railcar.
At this stop in Caguas, students explored topics including leadership, teamwork, conflict resolution, content creation, art in science, drawing, painting and storytelling, with facilitators such as the Centro Criollo de Ciencia y Tecnología del Caribe (C3TEC), the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (MAC) and PlateaPR.
The MAC workshop included an outdoor tour, pencil drawing and oil painting. Flores recalled that the students worked in "dead silence," in introspection. "What art does is impressive," she said.
"I learned that it's good to work as a team, because it gives us more confidence and you also shouldn't judge people," Abraham Merced Rivera, 13, told Platea.
What's next for La Academia Móvil?
La Academia Móvil is part of a 12-month Spotify grant that funded the acquisition of the railcar and the launch of the route. The Caguas session was the first stop, and the Fundación will make one stop per month at different points across the island throughout the year, with priority given to municipalities and remote communities that rarely receive this type of programming. In an interview with Platea, Flores mentioned Salinas, Lajas and Culebra as possible stops.
"At Spotify, we believe every young creator deserves access to tools, mentorship and opportunities to bring their vision to life," said Lauren Siegal Wurgaft, Spotify's global head of social impact, in a statement. "La Academia Móvil is about meeting talented young people in Puerto Rico where they are and investing in their potential."
For Benítez, the effect is measured over the long term. "When they're a little older they'll look back and remember," she said, because "they did something they had never done in their lives."
Cover photo: Team 6-7 records in the studio railcar during the last day of La Academia Móvil in Caguas. (Mariana Betancourt/PlateaPR)
This content was translated with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
