Newport Festivals Foundation is proud to announce a donation to W.O. Smith Music School on behalf of Newport Folk 2018 artist, Margo Price. The donation will underwrite 100% of the expenses for W.O. Smith’s Camp BackBeat – a weeklong experience for students interested in forming bands and performing live.Newport Festivals Foundation is proud to announce a donation to W.O. Smith Music School on behalf of Newport Folk 2018 artist, Margo Price. The donation will underwrite 100% of the expenses for W.O. Smith’s Camp BackBeat – a weeklong experience for students interested in forming bands and performing live.

Of the donation, Margo Price noted “I’m so excited to bridge together two of my favorite organizations that bring the love of music to so many. Newport Festival Foundation presented me with the opportunity to give back to my community and I immediately thought of the W.O. Smith School of Music.

Together, they are providing children who would otherwise not be able to afford it, a week-long camp in Nashville, where the kids will learn to write songs, record, jam, learn how to be a band, and at the end, have a concert at a classic Nashville club- The End.”

The camp is open to W.O. Smith students, ages 9 to 18, who study guitar, bass guitar, drums, piano and voice. It is specifically designed to help bands form so that they can continue working together throughout the academic year, get lessons and coaching from Nashville’s finest working musicians and to learn what it takes to take their playing to the next level. The students learn to play in a variety of genres including country, rock, pop, hip-hop, soul and R&B. The week concludes with a final performance at local Nashville club, Exit/In, for family and friends.

“We are thrilled to be the recipient of a grant from the Newport Festival Foundation and honored to have been recommended for this generous gift by the incomparable Margo Price,” said Jonah Rabinowitz, Executive Director of the W.O. Smith Music School. “Ms. Price and Newport Festivals Foundation are making an incredible investment in the lives of our low-income students, an investment in children’s futures that will bear fruit in our community for generations to come.”

The donation is part Newport Festivals’ Artist Ambassador program to work with folk-festival alumni to identify and fund music education programs across the country. Margo Price performed at the Fort on Friday, July 27th, 2018.

“There’s a kinship between Newport Folk and Nashville that’s really become an integral part of our DNA as a festival, said Jay Sweet, NFF’s Executive Producer. Our good friend, Margo Price has shown that over the last few years – from putting on her own unforgettable set, to taking part in collaborative sets like ‘Speak Out’ and signing with folk-family artists like Brandi Carlile and John Prine. That’s what Newport – and Nashville – is all about.

This donation to W.O. Smith is our way of thanking her and the rest of the Nashville music community for the impact they’ve had on our festival. To have the funds be used for a program like Camp BackBeat, where kids will learn about collaboration and being in a band, feels like a perfect fit.”