Santa Barbara Vocal Jazz Foundation (SBVJF) will present Journey Through Jazz!, performed by fifth-grade students at La Patera School, 7:15 p.m. Monday, Oct. 28 at the Lobero Theatre.

In their Journey Through Jazz! residency program, students are taken on a musical and narrative trek from early Dixieland to today’s Fusion jazz, while learning basic singing and performance skills, jazz terms, American jazz history, and ethnic/music diversity.

The residency closes with a school assembly and performance, then a free public performance at the Lobero Theatre. There will be two more shows in 2025 featuring local fifth-graders, Vieja Valley on Tuesday, Feb. 25, then McKinley in late April.

2024 marks the 26th Anniversary of the SBVJF, and the 21st year of sending VocalPoint Jazz education teams into Santa Barbara County schools to share the joy of jazz singing with young students.

In that time, some 5,000 area school children have experienced the fun and growth that America’s greatest musical creation can bring.

VocalPoint educators continue to visit public and private elementary schools throughout the school year to conduct the seven-week residency program, Journey Through Jazz!

“The crowning moment of our Journey Through Jazz! program is when students perform onstage at the historic Lobero Theatre in downtown Santa Barbara,” according to VocalPoint educators. “Through the hospitality of the Lobero, these students are given the opportunity to sing and dance on the same stage that many of the world’s premier artists have performed for generations – and continue to perform throughout the year.”

For more on the free performances, visit https://www.lobero.org/events/journey-through-jazz/.