Today we’d like to introduce you to Bell Solloa.
Hi Bell, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My name is Bell Solloa and i initiated High Voltage Music, Inc. in 2016 which has become my passion and mission. As a single parent who recognized my son’s natural talent and who had taught himself how to play drums and guitar by an early age, I began to look into music schools. Knowing he was ready to play with others, and also knowing I could not afford to enroll him in a music academy due to cost and distance from our area, I began to focus on what I could do to bring the lessons to him and other kids like him. Once i saw the students were engaged by registering, participating and wanting to learn, I made a call out to my musician friends and music store owners for instrument and equipment donations and through their generosity the students had a choice to learn electric guitar, bass and drums. By the following schoolyear we had two classes running concurrently and I created a curriculum that worked for our style of program. The students start the schoolyear by learning the basics of their instrument of choice through the fall, by January they are placed organically into bands who start learning songs of their choice together through the spring. By late April through June the bands get to play events and fundraisers created by High Voltage or that they are invited to play including at Fiesta events, art markets, music stores, and other places who support the program.
In 2017, the program expanded to its second school. By 2020, through federal grants, support by Rackspace Charity Foundation and Guitar Centers Foundation, High Voltage had expanded to its fourth school as a free on-campus after-school music program for schools who lacked enrichment classes in the arts.
Today, i can proudly say High Voltage Music Program has served youth grades 7-12 from some of San Antonio’s most economically vulnerable neighborhoods for 10 years. The students High Voltage serves reflect the diversity in all sides of San Antonio. Despite the challenges it has faced, High Voltage has continued to stay committed to being one of the only youth music programs in San Antonio that offers after-school on-campus music education at no cost, including all the instruments and equipment the students use removing financial and systemic barriers that may prevent underserved youth from accessing quality music and arts education.
High Voltage instructors are working professional touring musicians who share their own experiences as musicians. The program has two classes per campus and students attend twice a week for almost two hours of music playing mostly rock and roll, underground, alternative, pop and punk rock with instruction brought to them directly onto their school campus creating safe spaces where young people can discover their voice, build confidence, and develop lifelong friends and skills.
In 2017, i created Teens on a Mission SA to showcase talented San Antonio youth and teens who may not have a platform to show their work. Teens on a Mission is an entrepreneurial event going beyond the classroom by giving the youth some insight and knowledge on the business side of the arts. Teens on a Mission invites youth though young adults ages 13-22 to sell their Art in a gallery setting, set up a vendor table to sell their creative creations or to submit their bands info and potentially play on the stage supporting the High Voltage Music student bands. Bands learn how to sign a contract and how to play a professionally run stage including stage etiquette. Vendors and artists gain knowledge on how to set up their tables, hang their art, price their work and set up a point of sale. Teens on a Mission was produced to help those involved become confident and gain knowledge that some adults may not know when emerging as artists at an older age. It’s primary goal is to let youth and teens know that they can start an art business as a vendor and answer call outs at the same young age that they would be qualified by age to work in a restaurant or other places. Teens on a Mission has been partially funded with an Events Grant by the City of San Antonio’s Art & Culture for the past 2 years and will be again for Teens on a Mission VI in 2027.
After schools opened up post pandemic and after losing all its primary operational funding, High Voltage Music started back in their original school recognizing students had changed and allowing for them to control the pace of learning while trying to find funding in hopes for expansion to more San Antonio area schools as it once served. High Voltage Music, Inc. is currently looking for sponsors, donations and grants for that purpose.
High Voltage has produced approximately 15-20 student bands since 2016 and hopes to continue to bring the arts to more students!
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
After success and growth from 2016-2020, High Voltage was highly sought out by after school program managers and was slated to add two more schools for the 2020-21 schoolyear until everything came to an abrupt halt when the world pandemic hit in March of 2020.
Due to direct federal funding cuts for after-school programming in Texas, general funding cuts, reduced private donors and grants being rerouted, rightly so for medical necessities, the program was paused for a couple of months. When classes resumed in May of 2020, only the original school my son was attending and was getting ready to graduate from that month, was spared. All the other schools had permanently stopped programming due to funding cuts. As a parent I was not prepared for the mental aftermath the Corona Virus would leave in its trail. The students, including my son, were more recluse, not as engaged and lacked motivation, so we let them take the time to learn at their pace. By 2023, the students were engaged and learning as quickly as the students when we first started in the program and now are thriving once again.
The re-emergence of Teens on a Mission IV in 2024 was an exciting time to came back with logistical and attendance upgrades for the event. Teens on a Mission has been our primary focus regarding community engagement while showcasing our youth bands, artists and vendors. and now invites other San Antonio and regional talented young bands and artists who we see working hard and putting themselves out there to support our event. High Voltage acknowledges consistent outreach within the youth community will mutually benefit our program, funders, partners and those we serve.
High Voltage Music continues to struggle with funding loss and is operating by private donors and hopes for expansion to more San Antonio area schools as it once served and is currently looking for sponsors, donations and grants.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Since my early twenties, I have been a part of the art and underground music scene in San Antonio in one capacity or another. Not as a musician, but as a fan, supporter and event coordinator. I have been an entrepreneur for the better part of the last 40 years. By trade I am a hairstylist and that is my artistic side. I have utilized my skills for everything from hair shows, benefits for artists/musicians and to raise funds for causes. I have managed artists, photographers and curated art shows through the years, as well. In 2017, I created Teens on a Mission, an entrepreneurial youth-led annual event benefiting my nonprofit High Voltage Music, Inc. which i founded in 2016.
I believe because of my experience, love for the arts and passion; it came natural to me to start a music program inspired by my own sons’ talent and skills. Although I do not come from the music school sector, I do know music, musicians and have a knack for making the right choices when it comes to the order of things. I have managed a nightclub and booked bands for up to four live music clubs all at the same time, keeping tabs on who just played where. I abruptly stopped booking in clubs in the Fall of 2001, and my son was born in May of 2002.
I am extremely lucky to have made friends with so many musicians and artists who I am still good friends with and who I can call upon for support if needed for High Voltage.
I am very maternal with my friends, sometimes to a fault, but that instinct has proven invaluable in how I support and connect with the students in my nonprofit, as well as other youth I mentor.
For the last ten years I have been the CEO and Director of High Voltage Music, Inc. Being the founder is something that I don’t take lightly because of the responsibility I have to our students, parents, funders and facilities.
Although the program has grounded me in many ways, it continues to give me the grace to be who I am.
Some days i work out of my home office and sometimes from my business office, which is in a complex named, The Corn Pound and is owned by a longtime dear friend Jeff Smith and is located on Walzem Rd. in the NE side of San Antonio. The Corn Pound houses a plethora of creative forces and commerce anchored by Flagship Record store, Saustex Records, Jett Bass Recording Studio, High Voltage Music, Inc., an event room, practice spaces and more. It is where i can be found a couple of times a week and is also a place our students go to rehearse at when they are preparing to play their first shows, as well as being the first stage our students play on to get their feet wet.
As much work as it is to have a nonprofit, the reward comes from seeing our students in action.
Today, I appreciate all the opportunities I have learned from either good or bad, specially those that include growth within my work and self which means I am progressing in the right direction.
With that, I can say I am content.
How do you define success?
I define success by taking the chance to do something you might not know everything about, but still take a leap of faith. At that point, no matter the results… you did something the mass majority would never try.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://highvoltagemusic.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/highvoltagemusicsa/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/highvoltagemusicprogram
