NASSAU, Bahamas — Nearly one year ago, Cordell Broadus, son of legendary American rapper Snoop Dogg, stood before hundreds of University of The Bahamas (UB) freshmen and declared his interest in financially supporting the talented artists and musicians among them. Some seven months later, Mr. Broadus made good on that promise by generously donating $100,000 to the University to support the creative arts at UB.
On Thursday, March 7, UB executed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Mr. Broadus a.k.a “Champ Medici” and the Tezos Foundation in the RBC Auditorium of the Franklyn Wilson Graduate Centre for the establishment of the Champ Medici Arts Fund (CMAF) Scholarship Award. The CMAF is a $1 million philanthropic effort in partnership with the Tezos Foundation to support emerging and legacy musicians and artists across the globe who are seeking to build and create new creative and cultural works on the Tezos blockchain.
A two-part gift, the CMAF Scholarship will donate a monetary prize to be allocated to UB students participating in a competition which will showcase their non-fungible tokens (NFT) projects. The CMAF and the Tezos Foundation will offer educational tutorials, materials and guidance on how to use the Tezos blockchain to mint, market and sell their works.
The second part of the gift will be used to purchase the technology and relevant equipment and supplies for the students so that they can further pursue digital art and music initiatives within the University’s curriculum and in the future.
“This just really came from the bottom of my heart,” said Mr. Broadus. “My first time outside of America was to The Bahamas with my grandma and my great-grandma, who are both no longer here. So, just coming down here has always been inspiring, obviously beautiful, as the country has a very rich culture. You guys have intelligent students, and I just wanted to be representative and show that you don’t have to play sports and make music to become successful, but you can have ownership and your own narrative and do things you want to do. So, that’s what I’m trying to strive to do.”
UB President Janyne Hodder said the University is extremely grateful for the kind gesture, which came at a time when UB is seeking to better itself and foster a culture of continuous improvement in academia via the pursuit of local and international accreditation, as well as celebrate 50 years of continuous operations in service to the nation. The $100K gift by CMAF and the Tezos Foundation will only augment those pursuits.
“We are grateful for the vision of those at Champ Medici Arts Fund and the Tezos Foundation, Mr. Cordell Broadus and others, for making this investment in students of University of The Bahamas and for recognizing the potential of our talented students,” said President Hodder in her remarks.
Mr. Broadus had an opportunity to speak to students at UB’s 2023 Fall Freshman Orientation, where he indicated: “We also have a fund where we give back money to minority artists who create music, who create art, and at some point, I would like to pick one of you guys to donate that money to in this room, whoever is a talented artist and a talented musician, let me know.”
Fast-forward to Thursday’s MOU signing, Dr. Douglas Barkey, Dean of UB’s College of Liberal and Fine Arts, praised Mr. Broadus for being a man of his word in partnering with the University.
“We get a lot of visitors here, we see quite a few because of who we are and where we are, and we’re happy to receive them,” said Dr. Barkey. “They are all inspired by the creativity they see among our students and faculty, our young musicians, emerging artists, and they leave with the intention to help out in some way. We’re used to not hearing back. But that is not the case today. The Champ Medici Foundation for the Arts and the Tezos Foundation have come together to truly give back to the Bahamian community of emerging creative professionals in a very innovative manner through this gift.”
Mr. Dino Hernandez, UB’s Vice President of Institutional Advancement and Alumni Affairs, praised the new partnership for granting talented artists at UB the opportunity to unlock their creative musical and artistic talents.
“We truly appreciate the partnership with CMAF and Tezos Foundation for the establishment of this $100,000 award, which I’m sure Dean of Liberal and Fine Arts Douglas Barkey and the exceptional music faculty are deeply appreciative of,” said VP Hernandez. “Providing our students with access to state-of-the-art digital equipment, educational tutorials, and mentorship, also will go a long way in teaching and training our students, many of whom are fantastic musicians and artists.”
