Singer-songwriter Alisa Amador ’18 loves a liberal arts approach, and it didn’t end for her when she graduated from Bates. While on a visit to campus this fall to perform at the Village Club Series, she participated in the “Built by Bates” video series, talking about the way her liberal arts education stays with her as she moves through the world, making her way as a professional musician. 

The daughter of musicians — her parents Rosi and Brian Amador are in the Pan-Latin ensemble Sol y Canto — Amador could have easily gone to a conservatory or music school after high school. Instead she decided, during her first trip to campus, to come to Bates. “My mom looked at me and was like, ‘This is the place, isn’t it?’” Amador said. 

“I knew that something that I loved so deeply couldn’t be the only thing that I studied in a formal way,” Amador said. “And I just had this instinct that what I needed was a liberal arts education.”

She majored in gender and sexuality studies, and on campus, quickly became known for her extraordinary voice, its undeniable strength lit through with tenderness. Amador is also seriously persistent; when she won NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert competition in 2022 it was the fifth time she’d submitted an entry. Her performance of “Milonga accidental” was the first Spanish-language winner in the Tiny Desk Concert competition. 

Amador recorded her debut album, “Multitudes,” in 2024 and regularly gives live performances (This month she’ll be in Ridgewood, N.Y., at TV Eye on Nov. 19 and Studio 9 at Porches Inn in North Adams, Mass., on Nov. 20).

Learn more about her path to — and from — Bates and how it has helped her in her journey in her full “Built by Bates” video.