The Music Playground – A Camp Where Music Meets Imagination
An Exciting Opportunity for Young Creatives in our Community

This summer, The Acorn Center for the Performing Arts is thrilled to launch an opportunity for young creatives in our community: The Music Playground – A Camp Where Music Meets Imagination. Built in collaboration with the School of American Music, this free one-week camp invites students ages 8–16 to explore music, performance, creativity, and collaboration in a fun and supportive environment. The camp will run July 13–17, 2026, at The Acorn, culminating in a very special showcase performance on Saturday, July 18.

Whether you’re a seasoned performer or looking to learn music performance for the first time, this is where it happens. Join The Acorn and School of American Music for a high-energy week centered on music and professional coaching featuring dedicated tracks for piano, guitar, and voice.

Get all the details and get registered today! Space is limited. 

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The Acorn Dramatic Arts (TADA) Program

Past Programs:

Summer 2025

The Acorn Dramatic Arts (TADA) Summer Youth Camp 2025 – The Jungle Book

The Acorn Dramatic Arts (TADA) Summer Youth Camp 2023 – The Wizard of Oz

For more information please email Michael Bond, Senior Production Manager for The Acorn and Camp Director.
 

 

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JazzReach at The Acorn

JazzReach is a nationally recognized New York City-based 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization dedicated to the promotion, performance, creation and teaching of jazz music. Through the presentation of innovative, widely acclaimed live multi-media educational programs for young audiences, captivating main-stage concerts for general audiences and informative clinics and master-classes for student musicians and ensembles, JazzReach is steadfastly dedicated to fostering a greater appreciation, awareness and understanding of this rich, vital, ever-evolving American art form.

For the third year, The Acorn is proud to partner with JazzReach to present free community and educational programming this November.

All JazzReach events are free to attend through generous support from our sponsors.

Thank you to our sponsors!
Shannon & Don Ensing
Michigan Arts & Culture Council
The Pokagon Fund
Monday Musical Club
Berrien Community Foundation

Wednesday, November 5 @ 7pm ET
The Acorn and JazzReach present An Evening with Metta Quintet

For the third year, The Acorn is proud to partner with JazzReach to present free community and educational programming this November. Join us for a free community concert – An Evening with JazzReach’s Metta Quintet to kick off the 3-day residency!

Friday, November 7 @ 7pm ET
The Acorn and JazzReach present Sittin’ In and Groovin’ Out featuring Metta Quintet plus special guests: River Valley High School Jazz Orchestra

Sittin’ In and Groovin’ Out promotes creativity and teamwork, builds confidence, cultivates a deeper appreciation of jazz music, improves students' overall musicianship and improvisational skills and inspires students to want to continue to improve and excel in both music and life. Band students at River Valley High School will participate in this intensive three-day residency culminating in a performance with JazzReach’s Metta Quintet.

November 5–7: Jean-Michel and the Be-Bop Kings
Local elementary schools will also be participating in free programming at The Acorn each morning. Jean-Michel Basquiat (b.1960-d.1988) ranks among the most compelling painters of the 20th Century. He possessed a deep love and passion for jazz, particularly the be-bop style, and found great inspiration in the creative achievements of the genre’s great masters, often paying homage by depicting them in his paintings as noblemen, kings and heroes. Not unlike the music of Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Max Roach, Dizzy Gillespie and other architects of modern jazz, Basquiat’s work possesses visceral intensity, humor, spontaneity, fire and grit.

On one of the days this year, students will be staying afterwards to finish an exciting visual arts tie-in led by River Valley Elementary School Art Teacher, Rhea Folk.

 

Past Programs:

Over the course of the four-day November 2024 JazzReach residency, over 500 students from River Valley Elementary and High Schools, Bridgman Elementary School and New Buffalo Elementary School participated in interactive music enrichment programs. For the elementary-aged students, we presented JazzReach’s Get Hip!, a fun, interactive introduction to jazz that illuminates the art form's cultural origins, concepts about improvisation and creative self-expression. Select River Valley High School Band students went deeper, working with JazzReach’s Metta Quintet for three days as part of the Sittin’ In and Groovin’ Out program, which culminated in a joint concert on Friday night at The Acorn.

In addition, a free community concert was held to kick off the residency on Wednesday, November 6th, and we closed out our time with JazzReach on Saturday for another free event – Stolen Moments: The First 100 Years of Jazz.

 

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