Tyler Andrew Lackey, MFA (Ty) is a multidisciplinary artist, composer, and researcher from Tennessee whose work explores sound as a vessel for social practice. Blending looping, live instrumentation, and DJ mixing, Ty creates immersive sonic environments rooted in Black experience, community collaboration, and the everyday instances of intersecting identity and behavior.

He holds a B.A. in Organizational Sciences and an M.F.A. in Social Practice from The George Washington University. A OneBeat fellow and published scholar, Ty has performed on stages including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the Hollywood Bowl.

Ty is currently researching the physiological effects of improvisational Black jazz music and will launch his inaugural solo tour in 2026, beginning at New York City’s Delancey Hotel. The tour will feature original compositions crafted both individually and in collaboration with local and international artists.

Ty joins the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) as an Academic Advisor for Biology in the College of Arts and Sciences from the George Washington University, and has submitted a special topics course for  Undergraduate Fine Art students in spring 2026, titled: Sound & Noise as Social Practice.