“We have scholarships for people who need them!” – Vita Muir, Founder of Litchfield Jazz

The world-renowned Litchfield Jazz Camp has worked for three decades to make jazz education available to all motivated teens at every skill level and regardless of their family’s ability to pay. But this year, the camp finds it has fewer requests for help than it has had in past years. Why is that? I think I know and it’s concerning.

Over its past 29 years, Litchfield has never turned down a bona fide request for support. But some parents are reluctant to ask for it, and they let this chance go by for their musical youngsters. Middle-class parents with an annual income of, say, $80K take one look and decide they will never qualify for financial help because they think their income will be considered too high.

Let’s clear this up. The camp does not target only kids in the lowest financial bracket when we consider support. We give partial as well as full need-based scholarships. Today, if you have a couple of kids and a mortgage or rent (in CT it’s hard to find a 2 bedroom for under $2000) and add in the high cost of groceries and just about everything else, a middle-class income can’t stretch to the cost for tuition, room, and board at a first-class music camp.

Litchfield Performing Arts, the not-for-profit that runs the camp and Litchfield Jazz Festival, distributes on average $70K in need-based scholarships annually. Most of it goes to middle-class families. We want everyone who wants to have an excellent jazz education be able to have it. That’s the goal. My team and I raise this money each year, as our programs are not yet adequately endowed to meet the need.

So, my message to families whose teens want to join us is this: Don’t be shy! Ask us for help. It’s simple. Just go to litchfieldjazzcamp.com, fill in the registration form, and attach your most recent tax return. Notification of support comes out in early May! Don’t wait, just do it!!