About Us

The California Acoustic Music Project (CAMP) is a 501c3 corporation whose mission is to provide California School children the benefit of music education every day, through a full spectrum curriculum of music education. The curriculum program CAMP is utilizing, the Americana Project, provides artists in residence to schools on a salaried, ongoing basis in order to ensure that every student gets the experience of music instruction every day. Instruments (primarily guitars, mandolins and banjos) are also provided, and songwriting, instrumentation and performance are taught, and the semester culminates in both a CD project and a concert performance.

CAMP is unique in its approach. It involves the entire school community - the history classes can integrate what was happening historically at the time certain songs were written; art students get involved in the cover art for the CD project & posters for the performance; computer classes produce the graphics for CD liner notes; dance classes can teach folk dances that go with the songs being learned. It is a fully integrated program that builds community as it teaches, breaking down barriers as children who ordinarily might not interact work together within the project. It reaches out into the community through the end of year performance, parents become involved, and it changes whole districts. And that is the real magic of the project.

CAMP produces a yearly festival in partnership with Bodie House Music, Inc, the LA Acoustic Music Festival to benefit and bring attention to the project. The inaugural festival takes place on the Santa Monica Pier June 6-7, 2009 and is happening during the pier's 100th Anniversary Summer of Celebration.