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GRAMMY Camp Opens Doors For Teens In Music

For the past six summers, 80 teenagers from across the country have trekked to Los Angeles to take part in GRAMMY Camp, a signature music industry camp for U.S. high school students.

Developed by the GRAMMY Foundation, the camp offers teenagers as young as 14 and as old as 19 a transformative music industry experience that really opens the door of possibilities.  For some it's the opportunity to create, record and perform new music and for others, it's the chance to work behind the scenes in everything from audio engineering to music journalism.

Keith Urban And Grammy Campers
GRAMMY Campers were called up on stage to perform with Keith Urban at the Starry Night benefit concert. (credit: Jordan Strauss/WireImage.com, Copyright 2010)

"I think the main reason Camp is so unusual and spectacular is our ability to bring young people together from all over the country to work with the best of their peers,"  say Kristen Madsen, Sr. Vice President, MusiCares and the GRAMMY Foundation.  "Then we pepper that experience with these working professionals – heroes and legends.  We top it off with a professional show at a professional venue that they get to produce as though they were in the business."

Campers participate in camp-wide lectures and Q&A's with GRAMMY winners like:  Colbie Caillat, Ricky Minor, Jesse McCartney, Gavin Rossdale, Sara Bareilles or Adam Levine of multi-GRAMMY-winning group Maroon 5, to name a few.  Then, depending on the discipline, the guest artist breaks off into smaller groups with campers from a complimentary track.  Campers have jammed with Pearl Jam's Dave Krusen; sat at the piano with prolific songwriter David Foster; and joined Keith Urban onstage during his Starry Night Benefit concert back in July.

For a mini-camp experience, students can participate in Career Day, a one-day session offering insider tips and trade secrets that is produced in 8 – 12 cities, annually.  GRAMMY winners like Justin Timberlake, who was a guest artist at the Los Angeles event last year, are a big part of the day.  Admission is free and even though the audience is bigger, it's still an excellent sampler of what teens can get out of a camp experience.

Financial assistance is available for the 10-day camp, and usually 75% of the students applying do receive it, so the Foundation encourages everyone to apply.  Also for the first time this year, a 2nd Camp will be held in New York City at the Rubber Tracks, a community-based recording facility in Brooklyn.

The application deadline is around the corner, March 31st, 2011.  Visit www.grammyintheschools.com for more information.

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