The Ugg shoes were the second surprise waiting for a group of young musicians at Harmony Project in Los Angeles. The first was Channel Tres.
The Compton, Calif.-raised artist walked into a rehearsal to talk with the students about pursuing music, working through self-doubt and protecting the imagination required to build a creative life. After taking their questions, he helped reveal one more thing Ugg had arranged: Every student would leave with a new pair of shoes.
The visit brought Tres together with a program built around the kind of early encouragement he still credits with shaping his career. Harmony Project provides free, year-round music instruction and mentorship to children in under-resourced Los Angeles communities where arts funding is scarce.
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“We eliminate financial barriers,” Harmony Project executive director Natalie Jackson told Footwear News. “Beyond music, we wrap our students and families in comprehensive support.”
That includes social-emotional resources through the organization’s Community & Relational Engagement team and college readiness support through its College Alumni Success team.
“Ultimately, music is our vehicle for social mobility,” Jackson said. “In neighborhoods where college attainment can be elusive, Harmony Project yields a 98 percent college acceptance rate for our graduating seniors, helping our young artists toward lifelong success.”
“Harmony Project proves that when you give children the right tools and support system, their potential is limitless,” she added.
For Tres, the connection was personal. Before building a career from his mix of house, hip-hop and funk, he was a child growing up between Lynwood and Compton who joined the drumline and held onto what his teachers told him.
“Those moments were the catalyst for where I’m at now,” he told Footwear News. “It’s an each one, teach one type of thing. It was given to me, and now I can give it.”
One teacher in particular still stands out. When Tres was in first grade, his choir teacher, Miss Tolbert, invited a jazz pianist named Mr. O’Neal into the classroom. She later asked Tres to sing a solo and worked through it with him, even though he did not yet believe he could perform in front of other people.
“She helped me believe through practice and through encouragement,” he said. “Those were some of my first moments of being in front of people and performing.”
At Harmony Project, he hoped to help remove some of the internal roadblocks he encountered early on, including low self-esteem and the feeling that he needed access to something more before he could begin.
“A lot of ideas that changed my life came from just me in my bedroom,” Tres said. “It’s the thing between my ears that made it possible, and not losing my imagination. I had everything I needed to get where I am.”
His relationship with Ugg also began in a bedroom. During the pandemic, Tres started making videos at home before the brand approached him about expanding the idea into a larger project. He wrote poetry, brought in his dancers and spent the day filming what became part of Ugg’s FEEL _ series.
The opportunity arrived during a period when touring had stopped and paid creative work was harder to find.
“Especially during COVID, financially, it was a really hard time for a lot of people,” Tres said. “To get paid for my art during that time lifted my spirits a lot.”
That relationship continued with Ugg providing product and eventually bringing Tres back to front its fall 2026 campaign. He appears in the new $165 Tasman Flex, an unlined suede evolution of the brand’s familiar Tasman featuring lightweight cushioning and a wraparound traction outsole. He also fronts the returning $150 Otzo Clog, a rounded dark gray slip-on with step-in cushioning and a treaded sole.
The Harmony Project visit came weeks after another Ugg effort involving youth arts programming. For its Muna-fronted back-to-school campaign, the brand donated to Chicxs Rockerxs South East Los Angeles, a nonprofit working across music, mentorship and social justice. Ugg also maintains a year-round partnership with Queer|Art supporting LGBTQIA+ artists through grants, mentorship and community programming.
Tres made the visit shortly after releasing his second album, “Enigma POV,” on Friday. He begins his “Enigma” tour on Aug. 28 and plans to explore the record onstage through movement while watching which songs resonate most with audiences.
For the students in front of him, however, he kept the message closer to home.
“If I made it to where I am, you can make it to where you are,” Tres said. “The kids are the next generation, so we have to invest in them.”
Jackson said visits from working artists can expand a student’s sense of what is possible, but meaningful long-term support requires investment after the shoe boxes have been opened.
“A major key is helping fund our year-round programming,” she said, “so we can continue to support our children from kindergarten all the way to college.”
You can learn more about the program and how to support Harmony Project on the organization’s website.
