Experience Augusta this summer! Learn to play guitar in a mini-course. Send your kid to a week-long immersion of Appalachian heritage and fun. Come to a concert or two and dance the night away! Whatever you choose, it will make you smile! Isn’t that what it’s all about?
Evening Mini-Courses
Augusta mini-courses add to students’ daily learning experiences and allow busy local residents to be part of the Augusta experience. You do not need to be enrolled as a full-time Augusta student to sign up for mini-courses. (You do need to be a full-time student to stay on campus.) A real bargain, mini-courses cost only $55 for four evenings of instruction by world-class artists. Some mini-courses may require a small materials fee (which is paid to the instructor in the first class).
A wide array of subjects will be taught, from Accordion Repair with Larry Miller to Blues Dancing with Mary Christensen. If you’re feeling inspired to try out a new instrument, then a mini-course may be just the thing for you. Courses like Guitar from Scratch, Clawhammer Banjo from Scratch and Fiddle from Scratch will prepare students to feel comfortable in a jam session by the end of the week.
Mini-courses meet Monday through Thursday evening from 6-7:15 p.m. Simply select the mini-course that you would like to attend. Click here for full course descriptions and instructor bios.
Augusta For Kids
Augusta for Kids is a program for youth between the ages of 8-12 and who have completed second grade. Students explore arts and crafts through a variety of media and themes while getting a taste of the music and arts running within the week. The visual arts classes offered are:
- Week One: “Making Mountain Memories: A Beginner’s Exploration of Traditional Arts and Crafts” with Virginia Hicks,
- Week Four: “Through the Years: The Arts and Crafts of West Virginia” with Sarah Ferguson, and
- Week Five”Exploring the Arts, Augusta for Kids Style!” with Kylie Proudfoot-Payne
Augusta for Kids tuition is $225. Room and board would be additional. See FAQs for information regarding youth and chaperones.
Click here for full class descriptions and instructor bios.
Summer Concert Series
Join us for concerts each Tuesday and Thursday evening, July 7 through August 6. Performances will be by master musicians, vocalists and dancers who are instructors at Augusta for the summer sessions. Weekly concerts are held at Myles Center for the Arts and begin at 7:30 p.m. Following each concert there will be a dance in the open-air Augusta Dance Pavilion. Tickets are $12 and $6 for students.
A Summer Season Pass is available for $82 and includes admission to ALL summer concerts and dances and includes admission to the Augusta Festival Concert featuring Mountain Stage with Larry Groce on August 8.
The popular Augusta Festival (August 7-9), with square dancing to live music in the Dance Pavilion kicks off on Friday, August 7 at 8 p.m.! A Juried Craft Fair with kids activities, live music and dance demonstrations will take place on Saturday, August 8 from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. at Elkins City Park, followed by the Festival Concert and dance in the evening.
Mountain Stage with Larry Groce returns for the Festival Concert for the second consecutive year at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, August 8 in Myles Center for the Arts Harper-McNeeley Auditorium.
The concert will feature performances by Rhiannon Giddens, The SteelDrivers, Jesse Milnes and Emily Miller, plus others yet to be announced. Tickets are $20 general admission and $10 for Davis & Elkins students. Heard weekly on NPR stations across the country, Mountain Stage with Larry Groce is produced by West Virginia Public Broadcasting and is celebrating its 32nd year on the air.
Stick around for the Sunday Gospel Sing on August 9 at 10:30 a.m. in Robbins Memorial Chapel. Click here for more information on the Summer Concert Series and the Augusta Festival.
