Building on a decade of successful summer youth programming, Westmont has launched a year-round community music school designed for every age and skill level.

Joanne Kim, who teaches clarinet at Westmont and Santa Barbara City College, directs the Westmont Music Academy (WeMA), which begins Aug. 28 on the Montecito campus. 

WeMA builds on the foundation of the Westmont Academy for Young Artists (WAYA), an intensive summer music program established in 2015.

“WeMA takes that foundation and expands it into a year-round community music school for all ages and levels,” Kim said.

“We want students to be able to enter the program at many different stages, from a young child discovering music for the first time, to a beginner learning an instrument, to an advanced student or adult continuing their musical journey,” she said.

The academy offers private lessons; early childhood music classes involving movement and singing; beginning violin and piano academy courses’ musicianship classes; and chamber music ensembles.

“The biggest thing I’ve learned is that every student is different,” says Kim, a teaching artist with the Santa Barbara Symphony. “Students have different personalities, goals, strengths, and ways of learning, so good teaching means meeting students where they are and helping them move forward.

Children also love chamber music,” Kim said. “I saw students become especially excited when they got to play with their friends, rehearse together, and work toward a performance as a group.

“It reminded me that students don’t just want to learn their instrument, they want to make music with other people.”

WeMA, which aims to strengthen connections between the college and the surrounding Santa Barbara community, offers scholarship opportunities for its chamber music and advanced performance programs to ensure broad participation.

“My biggest hope is that WeMA becomes a place where people can discover and grow through music at any stage of life,” Kim said. “Most of all, I hope students experience the joy of making music with other people.”

Registration details and program guides are available at westmont.edu/wema.