Thursday, June 24 | Volume 40 No.15

THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 2026

'Professor' Keke Palmer Joins UCLA's School of Keke Palmer has officially added "professor" to her resume by part- nering with the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television (UCLA TFT).

The Emmy-winning actress, sing- er, and entrepreneur has launched a five-year artist-in-residence pro- gram titled "From Blocking to Broadcast". Starting in the Fall 2026 academic quarter, she will step into the classroom to men- tor the next generation of creative talents. She will travel to the Los Angeles campus every quarter to lead hands-on training sessions. Through this program, Palmer will lead quarterly workshops de- signed to help students navigate the modern media landscape. Top- ics include:

Pitching & Distribution: How to conceptualize ideas and strategically get them to viewers.

Business Ownership: The ins and outs of producing, includ- ing creating your own production pipelines.

Personal Branding & Ca- reer Sustainability: Building a strong digital presence and main- taining a long-term, independent career.

Hands-on Industry Experi- ence: Students will get real-world experience in digital audience en- gagement, marketing, and media packaging through her production company, KeyTVNetwork.

Palmer shared that higher edu- cation is a prestigious and diffi- cult path, noting that UCLA TFT aligns perfectly with the mission of her platform, KeyTVNetwork. Both entities focus on learning through trial, error, and taking projects from script to screen.

Theater, Film, and Television

Black Music, Like Black Love, Lives Forever

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As Black Music Month comes to a close, I hope this series has helped to provide a broader per- spective of black music beyond being entertainment for the moment.

Black music is a lot like black love- rhythmic, resilient, and ev- erlasting. Black music defines and interprets an era, capturing a moment in time and preserving it for generations to come. Long after the performers are gone, the music remains. It tells stories, re- flects culture, and allows listeners to experience moments in time as if they were living within the melodies.

1960; Nashville, TN- eleven- year old Sandra “Dhaima" Mat-

Sandra "Dhaima” Matthews thews walked into the offices of Tree Publishing with a notebook full of songs and a belief that she had something worthwhile to say. Music publishers Buddy Killen and Bob Riley recognized her tal- ent and decided to take a chance on Sandra and her friend, Connie Burns, who performed together as a duo. They introduced them to a young promo man from CBS Re- cords named Carl Davis, and The Buttons became the first female group from Nashville signed to a major record label.

The group recorded a handful of singles, but those recordings trav- eled much farther than anyone

That is the enduring power of could have imagined. Their best- Black music.

known release, “Shimmy Shimmy Watusi," received international at-

See "Black Music..." page