EDUCATION DEPARTMENT PURPOSE STATEMENT
The purpose of the Freight & Salvage Education Department is to deliver outstanding, hands-on programming which explores traditional music from around the world and the power of making music in community with others.

We are proud to recognize the vibrancy of music from global traditions in our 300+ concerts every year, and our newly expanded Education Department extends that mission with a wide array of programming. Our brand new middle school outreach program, PLAYING WITH TRADITION, illuminates the historical context, cultural roots, and expressive power of varying musical traditions and gives students a chance to jumpstart their creativity with newly acquired musical skills. In addition to this new program, our long-running evening and weekend classes, workshops and jams continue to be an important part of the Bay Area’s vibrant old-time, bluegrass, and roots scenes.  More recent offerings like the Freight Singers Community Chorus are growing every year, and our Fiddlekids summer camp is about to enter its 22nd annual season. We also recently added a Pre-Show Conversation series featuring exclusive and insightful interviews with headlining artists, right on our stage.  Our education programming includes everything from folk and jazz to hip-hop, South Indian classical music, and beyond. We believe that working with a multiplicity of traditions gives us all an opportunity to engage with each other directly, instead of isolating ourselves in our silos of private preferences. Engaging meaningfully across traditions and cultures can spark conversation, dispel common misperceptions, and  open us up to deeper understanding.  In an age when extremists exploit differing cultural perspectives as a way of “othering” people and justifying exclusivity, we’re going the other way. It’s not always easy, and we’re okay with that. We’re going to keep doing what we’re doing.

It’s our tradition.

Get in touch at education@freightandsalvage.org