Expansion and Strengthening of Junior Appalachian Musicians Program
Grantee: Black Mountain Center for the Arts, Junior Appalachian Musicians, Inc. and Transylvania Youth Strings.
Amount Awarded: $37,000 + $40,000 + $8,675
Award Date: June, 2011
In the spring of 2000, guidance counselor and musician Helen White started the Junior Appalachian Musicians (JAM) program, an after school program in Alleghany County to provide kids with the opportunity to learn traditional music from musicians in their community. The program was so successful that arts organizations and school systems in many Western North Carolina counties sought to establish their own programs.
Two BRNHA grants in 2007 and 2009 to the Black Mountain Center for the Arts helped to launch similar programs in Buncombe, Madison, and Mitchell Counties. All three programs are going strong today.
A 2009 BRNHA grant helped establish a regional resource center – Junior Appalachian Musicians, Inc. – to help strengthen existing JAM programs and to assist start-up programs with resource materials, teacher and administrator training, and guidance on best practices. A second grant awarded in May, 2011 is enabling JAM, Inc. to provide further instructor training and to develop a standard curriculum unit that will introduce fourth graders in North Carolina public schools to traditional music.
In June, 2011, BRNHA awarded a grant to Transylvania Youth Strings to launch a Junior Appalachian Musicians program at the Transylvania Boys and Girls Club.
Award amounts and dates:
Recipient: Black Mountain Center for the Arts
$25,000 grant awarded in May, 2007
$12,000 grant awarded in April, 2009
Recipient: Junior Appalachian Musicians, Inc.
$25,000 grant awarded in February, 2009
$15,000 grant awarded in May, 2011
Recipient: Transylvania Youth Strings
$8,675 grant awarded in June, 2011
