Stax Music Academy
Students are required to participate in moderated juries at the end of each semester that tests both their performance acumen and their western theoretical grasp of music.
The end goal is to prepare graduates for post-primary success regardless of path, whether it be attending college or entering the music workforce.
The Stax Music Academy began programming on June 1, 2000 in a nearby elementary school while its permanent facility was under construction.
The following year, the Stax Music Academy traveled on its first domestic Summer Soul Tour Presented by FedEx performing at Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and other venues in Pittsburg and Philadelphia.
King, Gloria Gaynor, Los Lobos, and Judy Collins; and were featured artists at the nationally televised 19th Annual Trumpet Awards in Atlanta, GA.
That same year students performed at Lincoln Center in New York City as part of their Summer Soul Tour and were featured for the first time on NBC Today show in a segment with former First Daughter Jenna Bush Hager.
King's Club Ebony in Indianola, Mississippi, and a concert in conjunction with the Tipatina Foundation in New Orleans at famed Tipitina's Nightclub.
During its almost 20 years of teaching music and mentoring young people, Stax Music Academy students have participated in workshops and performances with a wide variety of GRAMMY©-winning artists, former Stax Records artists, and other music industry professionals including Huey Lewis, Steve Miller, George Clinton, Lalah Hathaway, Steve Cropper, Booker T. Jones, the Bar-Kays, R&B violinist Damien Escobar, Steve Jordon, Bootsy Collins, John Legend, cast of Motown the Musical, cast of MEMPHIS the musical, Marcus Miller, Charles Lloyd, Branford Marsalis, PJ Morton, Kanye West, The Roots, former First Lady Laura Bush, BBC television/radio host Jools Holland, British soul sensation Beverly Knight, Elvis Costello, Candi Staton, George Duke, members of Janet Jackson's band, former Stax Records owner Al Bell, Stax Records founder Jim Stewart, and numerous others.
