PRESS RELEASE

Blues Kids Foundation in partnership with

The Music Center at Columbia College Chicago presents

Fernando Jones’ 11th Annual International Blues Camp Online

Sunday, July 5 to Friday 10, 2020 | 8:00A to 11:30A

Contact us on how your Blues Kid can attend: Info@BluesKids.com | (312) 369-3229

Tentative Schedule at-a-glance. It'll update weekly until then. (Click Here)

Read the latest press from the Chicago Tribune on Blues Camp here. (Click Here)

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Today, we live in a new normal. Hopefully, next year, we can present in-person again. Blues Kids Foundation and the Music Center at Columbia College Chicago are proud to be on the cutting edge of Blues andragogy and pedagogy with Fernando Jones' International Blues Camp. This July, while respecting social distancing and shelter in place, we will embrace technology and social media platforms and establish an interactive blended learning music performance and appreciation version at Blues Camp Online plus STEAM activities.

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It’s free for student musicians, internationally ages 12 to 18, of course. For more information on how you and your Blues Kid can be part of this experience here's the link: www.Blues Kids.com/EarlyBird. The deadline is June 26. Placement is for intermediate and advanced level vocalists and instrumentalist (all instruments welcome). Here are the Kennedy Center ArtsEdge Standards we use. Thanks for making us your charity of choice.

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The Blues Kids Foundation is an IRS recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable organization. We were established to preserve, perform and promote the Blues among America's youth, parents and educators under the tutelage of highly qualified instructors. Our focus is on education, literacy, social emotional learning and music as a second language. 

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FJ's Jan. 16, 2020 NAMM Lecture Slides | Blues Camp Brochure

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​BLUES CAMP MANDATORY FORMS

(Please complete each form in anticipation of you Blues Kid being excepted)

1st Form: Audition Placement (This is how we will know what group or groups to place your Blues Kid.)

2nd Form: Tech Haves and Skill (This is how we'll know how to better serve your Blues Kid.)

3rd Form: Emergency Form (This is where everything from your permission slips to t-shirt sizes will be.)

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Media Contact:

J. N'deye Walton (301) 367-2518 | JNdeyeStar@aol.com

James McMurray (773) 519-4843 • Info@BluesKids.com

 

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About the Founder

Internationally known Bluesman Fernando Jones founded Blues Camp, an international program, and established it Monday, July 5, 2010 on the campus of Columbia College Chicago where he is on faculty as founding Blues Ensemble director in the Music Department. on July 4th, the day before, there was a kick-off celebration on the site of the old Chess Records at 2120 S. Michigan Avenue. Jones said, "It has been a dream since childhood to have a centrally located place where children could come and play the Blues in a user friendly, nurturing environment on a college or performing arts campus." 

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Mr. Jones is also a songwriter and scholar. Born to loving Mississippi parents on the South Side of Chicago, Jones was inspired by his older brothers, Foree, Marvin and Gregory to play music; that inspiration led him to teaching himself how to play guitar when he was just four years old.

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He is a highly sought-after lecturer focusing on music pedagogy and literacy improvement whose clientele has included the Smithsonian Institute and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Buddy Guy said that Fernando Jones is “one in a million trying to get to the bottom of the barrel of the Blues.” The incomparable Fernando Jones is a 21st Century Renaissance man and the 2008 Keeping the Blues Alive Award recipient and a Chicago Blues Hall of Fame Inductee to name but two of his professional acknowledgements.

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Photo by Glenn Kaupert | Click link to download flyer.