Meet Your Neighbor: Local Musician Marc Williams

Marc Williams, also known as Mr. Kinetik, is the Assistant Principal of Fall Creek Intermediate school by day and a local DJ and musician by night. He has been an educator for over a decade and has been at the HSE school district since August 2015. While being an educator wasn’t originally his dream job, he says it has become a great way to improve his writing and gain a larger perspective.

Williams grew up in a musical family and has been surrounded by instruments his entire life. He said that he’s always been “compulsively listening to music” and surrounding himself with instruments.

During high school, he and a friend played around with freestyle rap and made mixtapes. At Butler University, Williams was able to record his first tracks at a recording studio on campus.

Despite having a full-time job, Williams still makes time for his music. He said the key to continuing his art is to “schedule that time.” To keep up with his passion for music and his responsibilities as assistant principal, it takes purposeful scheduling and planning ahead.

As one can imagine, having a teacher that makes his own music is a pretty unique experience. Williams says that while some students don’t care all that much, most are interested in how he balances his work with being a local musician.

Unfortunately, there are not many role models to look up to that are able to keep working on their artistic passion while maintaining a more traditional job. Williams finds that the general message right now is that “as you get older you have to stop doing the things you did when you were younger.” He says it’s entirely possible to make time for the things you love as you get older while keeping up with your responsibilities.

Aside from students being surprised by his time management skills, Williams sees a lot of students relate to him because of his music. He also says that teaching has helped him learn how to make better music. Williams said that when he goes to make a new song, he “thinks a lot about how young people listen to music.” This has been helpful for him when writing songs to figure out how to grab attention and keep it throughout the track.

Last year, Williams began creating a playlist for Black History Month, and he partnered with Fishers Parks this year to curate the 2021 Fishers Black History Month playlist, as well. The playlist is a compilation of Black artists who have made an impact on the Black community. Williams said he wanted to show these artists in full, not just as one hit song. He says that too many times artists are flattened and that especially in Black history, it’s important “to have a more dynamic understanding.”

Along with listening to the playlist, be sure to follow him on Instagram for daily posts this month celebrating Black heritage and culture.