Professor Solange Knowles is officially a part of the Trojan family, joining USC as a scholar-in-residence at the Thornton School of Music.
The announcement was made Monday during a conversation between Knowles and Thornton Dean Jason King, part of the school’s “Beyond Category” speaker series.
Excitement filled the room at the sold-out Newman Recital Hall where students and guests eagerly awaited Knowles. Introduced as a “music and cultural powerhouse,” Knowles was met with a standing ovation. Students gasped while putting their hands over their hearts. One student exclaimed, “I love you!”
As soon as the sounds of cheers faded, King announced the Grammy Award-winning artist and curator as the first-ever scholar-in-residence in collaboration with Saint Heron, Knowles’ multi-disciplinary platform. Before King finished his sentence, applause and cheers rang out in the room.
Knowles’ residency includes teaching a class in fall 2027, with the working title “Records of Discovery: Methodologies for Music and Cultural Curatorial Practices,” which will explore music curation. The artist joked that she will teach male students to be better collaborators with women after sharing the challenges she faced filming visuals for her hit 2016 album, “A Seat At The Table.”
The residency and class will be created in collaboration with Saint Heron. Sabla Stay, art director and designer of Saint Heron, describes the platform as a “catalyst to preserving the past and embedding it into the present and the future.”
Knowles said Saint Heron was born from a place of necessity and frustration.
“There wasn’t really a space at the time where I had nuanced conversations that I wanted surrounding music and culture and my blackness,” she said.
Knowles and the team hope to bring the same spirit of timelessness and evolution that Saint Heron embodies to USC.
“I am so deeply honored to expand my curatorial and research practices alongside Saint Heron within the academic space of USC’s Thornton School of Music,” Knowles said. “Over the last six years, 70 percent of my time has been spent in research. So to have the opportunity to broaden my tools and amplify a lot of the research we’ve done in Saint Heron and the academia space is exciting,” Knowles said.
King said he admires Knowles’ commitment to world-building and looks forward to her centering the voices of marginalized communities. He said her approach to art curation will center disenfranchised voices at USC Thornton School of Music.
“I’m fascinated by her approach and commitment to world-building. She’s done that amazingly in all of these elite institutions and spaces where marginalization has unfortunately been part of those histories,” King said. “She’s brought people to the forefront in powerful ways. So I think she’s going to do something similar here at USC.”
Knowles described how her upbringing in Houston’s Third Ward’s Black community influenced her art practice, shaping how she centers disenfranchised communities in her artistic work.
“Growing up in Third Ward, Houston, I didn’t see anybody but Black people until I was 10. I got to see every different facet of Black women — specifically in my mom’s hair salon. So that laid a foundation for me to create my work through my blackness,” Knowles said.
During the conversation, Knowles described the trajectory of her career, from her days as a background dancer for Destiny’s Child to an award-winning multidisciplinary artist. Knowles said her meniscus tear as a background dancer led her to songwriting and music.
While developing her second studio album, “Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams,” Knowles said she learned that power does not come from being loud, but rather from being herself.
“I think about the album as such an important lesson as a vocalist because it was the last time that I equated power with loud,” Knowles said. “There is power in restraint and power in your truth.”
Knowles said she will draw on her experience as a multi-hyphenate artist and world-builder in her new role at USC.
“I am really excited to help students find their when and why,” she added.
Following the announcement, Thornton students expressed their excitement about the chance to work and collaborate with Knowles.
“When it comes to multifaceted creatives, Solange is a big, big person in that realm,” music industry student Leah Seldon said. “And she’s a big inspiration to me in how I embark on creative journeys, and endeavors, but also when I think of people that are free, I think of her.”
In February, Knowles will host “The Making of Eldorado Ballroom” at USC, a behind-the-scenes exploration of Knowles’ acclaimed multi-city series at venues such as the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Walt Disney Concert Hall.