Guitar foundation partners with tribal college to expand guitar education

With five successful festivals under their belt, the Crown of the Continent Guitar Foundation is expanding their offerings into the Mission Valley.

On March 12, the Crown of the Continent Guitar Foundation and the Salish Kootenai College Foundation are holding a Strum and Drum concert to start off their new partnership.

Starting with Salish Kootenai College’s next semester, a three-credit guitar education class will be offered to students and high school juniors and seniors for dual credit.

The classes will be taught by Tim Torgerson, who is one of many distinguished performers who will perform at the Strum and Drum concert.

The new partnership is another step in the Guitar Foundation’s mission to make the Mission and Flathead valleys a center for the guitar and guitar education.

“For us to achieve our vision it’s important for the valley to be a cultural center,” Crown of the Continent chairman and founding director David Feffer said. “We want guitar and music education to be part of the fabric of the entire Flathead Valley.”

The guitar foundation has been looking to start partnering with local colleges and the classes and concert at Salish Kootenai College came together rather quickly.

Just a few months ago the Guitar Foundation and the college foundation began talking about a partnership.

“We got excited about collaborating with them, as they did with us,” Crown Director of development and scholarship Lucy Jones said.

The foundations developed a vision — a class, an event and the pursuit of scholarships.

“It’s just to bring the community together,” Jones said. “To use our organization to work together to bring music and arts to college and to the Mission Valley.”

“It’s going to support this larger objective of having music education at Salish Kootenai College,” Executive Director of the Salish Kootenai College Foundation Angelique Albert said.

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai College has grown, Albert said, with 41 degree programs now offered. The only other music classes offered at the college are traditional drumming and singing, which will come into play at the concert. The concert will open with a hand drum song and an honor song.

The concert will also serve as a fundraiser to help provide scholarships to the Crown of the Continent Guitar festival. The scholarships will be offered to community members in the Salish Kootenai tribes and community members on the Flathead Indian Reservation.

Featured guitarists at the Drum and Strum event will include Jack Gladstone, Rob Quist, Halladay Quist, Tim Toregerson, Kevin Van Dort and Mike Murray with additional support from Erica Von Kleist and friends.

“Any one of these artists would be an amazing event,” Jones said. “But to have these artists, headliners together, is probably a once of a lifetime experience for the community.”

Another piece of the new partnership, Albert said, is awareness about the Crown of the Continent Guitar Festival and Workshop. She said there are many people in the community who haven’t heard of the guitar foundation in Bigfork.

Now, aspiring musicians that might not have otherwise had opportunities to learn from professional guitarists can earn scholarships for that chance.

“It’s like a once in a lifetime thing to get to go to these trainings,” Albert said.

The guitar foundation helped the college secure Toregerson as the instructor. He will help develop the curriculum and is donating 20 guitars for the class.

Feffer says they hope to start a similar program with Flathead Valley Community College in Kalispell.

The Crown of the Continent Guitar Foundation has given 75 scholarships to guitarists in northwest Montana in the last five years, and they hope to continue to grow that number as they work to achieve their mission.

“We want this to help be a really positive influence in the community,” Feffer said. “Music is the universal language, it really is.”

The Strum and Drum is March 12, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Johnny Arlee/Victor Charlo Theatre on the SKC campus in Pablo. For tickets or more information call 406-275-4983.

The sixth Crown of the Continent Guitar Festival and Workshop is Aug. 30 through Sept. 6 at Flathead Lake Lodge in Bigfork.