The Saint Mercedes Grant
For Our Roster of Songwriters and Music Producers, Ages 18+
The Saint Mercedes Grant will make our adult Songwriting Program (ages 18+) and Music Production Program (ages 18+) accessible at a fraction of our professional rate. Grounded in our Layer One, Layer Two, and Layer Three curricula, adults will join our writing or production teams to sharpen studio skills while exploring social dynamics, romantic relationships, and bodily autonomy. Applicants will select their preferred rate and, if accepted, gain access to Marcelland, our private online community, as Marquesses and Marchionesses—allowing them to attend workshops, participate in challenges, and take courses.
Independently funded by our LLC to ensure complete transparency, our grant structure offers three financial assistance options to meet different creators' needs without ever requiring documentation of economic difficulties. This allows clients to pay 75% of our standard rate for a weekly adult team session and substantial one-on-one support; 50% of our standard rate for a weekly adult team session and moderate one-on-one support; or 25% of our standard rate for a weekly adult team session with foundational one-on-one support. After 12 months of initial development, annual guaranteed industry pitches will be 9 per year at 75%, 6 at 50%, and 3 at 25%. Once our future 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization is ready to accept donations, we will expand this structure to cover 100% of our standard rate for those with documented financial need. To learn more, please visit our Programs page and the "Our Funding" section of our About page.
Saint Mercedes is a New Orleans–based vocal artist and international coach. Her teaching is shaped by profound resilience: after surviving thyroid cancer and relearning how to express music with a paralyzed vocal fold, she transformed her vocal pedagogy. Her work now blends technical mastery with emotional and spiritual depth, centering purpose, alignment, and sound's healing capacity. Through projects like Medicinal Harmony, she cultivates intergenerational spaces for authentic musical connection.
For Marcellé, studying with Saint Mercedes after graduating from college created a lasting shift. “I was so focused on industry expectations that I lost track of singing for joy,” Marcellé shares. “Mercedes made me curious again, helping me notice what was happening inside my voice, my body, and my emotions.” Mercedes taught her that a voice is not a ladder to success, but something to honor, protect, and understand. That shift laid the foundation for helping adult artists reconnect with their sound without sacrificing their internal grounding or emotional clarity.
To join our adult writing or production team (ages 18+), creators apply and select how much of our rate they want to pay. If accepted, they join our roster at that rate with no questions asked—learning to write, produce, and collaborate with absolute sovereignty. Through small group teamwork and personalized one-on-one development, adults will build technical skills, refine their style, and foster creative trust without financial strain, preparing them to sustain an authentic, self-aligned musical life in a demanding industry.
This institutional grant honors Saint Mercedes’s example of strength, pedagogical mastery, and creative alignment. By making adult songwriting and music production accessible, we will ensure creators—including those navigating trauma, neurodivergence, or disabilities—receive trauma-informed, neurodiversity-affirming guidance. While fiscal sponsorship supports finishing, pitching, and releasing music across our label and publishing pipelines, our institutional grants guarantee that team-based music education remains accessible to as many creators as possible.