Teenage musicians are invited to attend the Newport Jazz Summer Camp

For any high schooler who has a love for jazz, registration is now officially open for the 2024 Newport Jazz Summer Camp at Salve Regina. This week-long summer camp will take place from Sunday, July 28 through Saturday, August 3, 2024. Students aged 14-18 will learn directly from experienced music educators during the week, and they will also attend the legendary Newport Jazz Festival — the grandfather of modern-day music festivals — on August 2-3.

While Salve’s Newport Jazz Summer Camp has been going on for years, Salve Regina and the Newport Festivals Foundation, Inc., the organization that runs the Newport Jazz Fest, created more of an official partnership for the jazz camp in 2023.

“This official collaboration means that the Newport Festivals Foundation provides financial aid for students who normally wouldn’t have this type of opportunity,” said Peter Davis, executive director of the Newport Jazz Summer Camp and professor of music at Salve. “This provides an incredible way for any high schooler out there who might want to attend.”

With this collaboration, jazz camp students get an even larger and more in-depth experience than ever before. Last summer, the jazz camp had 52 high school students attend, leading to invaluable community connections within the camp. They even performed on stage during the Newport Jazz Fest for the first time ever — a tradition that will also be an element in this year’s jazz camp.

Jazz camp attendees performed for the first time ever on the Foundation Stage last summer 2023.

Jazz camp participants are also able to be mentored by jazz artists that are performing at the Newport Jazz Festival, which is a dream come true for any aspiring musician.

“The artistic director of the jazz festival, Christian McBride, came by camp for a few hours on Thursday last year, and he talked with them about being a professional jazz musician, what you should do, and how to work with other people,” Davis described. “The students also went to workshops on the festival grounds. It’s just a wonderful experience for a high school student.”

The application deadline is July 10. Financial assistance opportunities are available. For more information, go here or contact jazzcamp@salve.edu.