The Northampton Community Music Center will hold a 40th anniversary gala fundraiser featuring acclaimed filmmaker Ken Burns, who will take the stage for a 40-minute Q&A. Afterwards, longtime NCMC student AJ Strack will perform, and NCMC founder Bill Feinstein will speak on the significance of the Center’s 40-year commitment to community music. We invite you to join us in the historic celebration!

40 years ago, the Northampton Community Music Center as we know it was only a dream. Many of today's staff, faculty, and student body were only dreams themselves, and our building was then Northampton's abandoned South Street Elementary School. In the decades since, NCMC has helped thousands of dreams come true. We have awarded more than one million dollars in scholarships and taught more than 20,000 students, each leaving the center with music beating in their hearts. This fall marks our 40th academic year at the Music Center, and we are excited to celebrate this momentous occasion with our community, and harness support that will take us into another extraordinary decade! To kick off this special year in the life of NCMC, we have invited master storyteller Ken Burns to inspire us forward.

Ken Burns has been making documentary films for fifty years. Since the Academy Award-nominated Brooklyn Bridge in 1981, Ken has gone on to direct and produce some of the most acclaimed historical documentaries ever made, including The Civil War; Baseball; Jazz; and, most recently, The American Revolution. Ken’s films have been honored with dozens of major awards, including seventeen Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards and two Oscar nominations. In November of 2022, Ken was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.