WATTS TOWERS ARTS CENTER CAMPUS

Erick Rivera is a Los Angeles based composer, cartoonist, filmmaker, graphic designer and educator. He graduated with a BFA from the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) studying Guitar Performance and Composition under composers Vinny Golia, Miroslav Tadic, Woody Aplanalp and Marc Lowenstein.

 

As an educator, Rivera has worked with the Community Arts Partnership (CAP) program for 5 years teaching animation, filmmaking and visual art to grade school students. Rivera has also taught guitar to students of various ages at the Plaza De La Raza cultural center. He also has private guitar students around Los Angeles.

 

Rivera’s work is influenced by myriad of artists and styles. As a Watts native, Charles Mingus was a huge influence on him. His work often explores the relationship between music and society which is tangentially related to Erick’s love of scoring to picture.

 

His collaboration with filmmaker Stephanie Delazeri on her film Nikolai and the Butterfly (Delazeri: Director, Rivera: Original Score) was screened at 2015ths San Diego Comi-Con’s Young Filmmakers Animation Showcase. Rivera’s music made its television debut on the KCET network in Los Angeles in February 2016 when he collaborated on filmmaker Javier Barboza’s film Before Dodgers Stadium.

 

Rivera has interned for The Watts Towers Arts Center as a graphic designer. He also interned for music house Comma Music in Los Angeles providing mock up scores for commercials like McDonalds and Hallmark. In 2015 he was chosen to be one of nine composers to participate in BMI’s Composing for the Screen program in New York taught by professional film/TV composer Rick Baits.

 

Rivera has contributed original compositions and scores for filmmakers, choreographers, and artists in Los Angeles. He is a member of the Los Angeles-based collective The Tables which produces music videos, infomercials, comics, short films, and a podcast.