Hamilton Music Collective holds fundraising jazz concerts

This winter, Hamilton Music Collective is holding a series of concerts to fundraise for An Instrument for Every Child, a program that provides free music lessons to children

The Hamilton Music Collective will be hosting a series of local jazz concerts this winter from Feb.1-Apr. 25 at their downtown jazz lounge to support their An Instrument For Every Child program. 

The concert series will feature the performances of Dave Young Quintet, “Getz/Gilberto” Revisited, Tim Clarke Quintet and Diana Panton Trio.

The Hamilton Music Collective has been around since 2008 and their mandate is to enrich our community through performances and educational opportunities. AIFEC is their most well-known program. Ever since AIFEC was started in 2010, the program has reached over 9,000 children, working with around 800 children annually. They provide elementary school children in challenged neighbourhoods the opportunity to play an instrument on a free-loan basis.

The Hamilton Music Collective is partnered with all Hamilton school boards and they are currently operating in 16 schools. Not only do they provide instruments to children at these schools, but they also provide free instrumental lessons. The lessons are taught by highly skilled music instructors, paid by the program. Much of their fundraising, then, goes towards paying these instructors.

Astrid Hepner, the CEO and founder of Hamilton Music Collective, mentioned that many programs exist to make recreation and sports accessible to all children but that not as many programs exist in the arts.

“We are using music as a medium of social change, for providing opportunities to children [who] otherwise would not have certain opportunities,” said Hepner.

Attending these concerts is a great way for McMaster students to destress during midterm season, while contributing towards a great cause in their community.

By hosting this series of jazz concerts, Hepner hopes to increase arts opportunities for local children while also sharing a love for jazz and for music with the community. Hepner hopes that concert attendees will be blown away by the concert performances.

“We just hope that they walk away sort of enlightened, just loving it, which often is the case––they just say, “Wow, this was absolutely stunning,”” said Hepner.

In the future, Hamilton Music Collective hopes to continue what they are doing: growing and reaching out to more children to produce great concerts and be a main player in the cultural scene. Tickets to the upcoming jazz concerts can be purchased from their website. The next show will be on Mar. 28 featuring the Tim Clarke Quintet!