The Newport Jazz Festival is expanding its student outreach program, offering free tickets to Rogers High School seniors for the second consecutive year.
Dan Swain, Director of Development and Programs for Newport Festivals Foundation, says the initiative aims to cultivate lifelong jazz fans among the younger generation.
“We started last year offering any senior student from Rogers High School a free ticket to the Sunday of the Newport Jazz Festival,” Swain explains. “It’s kind of like another win-win because the kids get to come for free, but they also become jazz fans for life.”
The program, supported by the Joyce and George Wien Foundation, has attracted about 40 to 50 students each year. Swain notes that some families initially thought the offer was too good to be true.
“A lot of them think it’s too good to be true. They’re like, ‘How could this be a free ticket? There must be some catch.’ And there’s nothing. You literally just fill out a form and you get a free ticket,” he says.
The initiative aligns with the vision of festival founder George Wein, whose primary goal was to engage young people with jazz music.
Swain says, “It changes the way that the festival feels when you walk around knowing that kids are here for free. Knowing that that next generation is having the ability, regardless of their economic status, that they have the ability to be here.”
In addition to the high school program, the Newport Festivals Foundation continues its decade-long partnership with the Boys and Girls Club of Newport County. This collaboration includes bringing artists to perform at Camp Grosvenor and providing free tickets for club members to attend the Jazz Festival on Friday.
