Northampton Community Music Center Kicks Off 40th Anniversary Year With Gala Event Featuring Ken Burns
Northampton Community Music Center Kicks Off 40th Anniversary Year With Gala Event Featuring Ken Burns
On Sunday, November 8, from 2 to 4:30 PM, the Northampton Community Music Center (NCMC) will kick off its 40th anniversary year with a gala fundraiser at the Mill 1 event space in Holyoke, Massachusetts. The event will feature acclaimed filmmaker Ken Burns, who will take the stage for a 40-minute Q&A. Following his appearance, piano student AJ Strack will give a short performance, and NCMC founder Bill Feinstein will speak on the significance of NCMC’s 40-year commitment to community music.
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.
AJ Strack began playing piano at just two years old (before he was even able to communicate with words) and has been learning piano by ear at the NCMC for the past 17 years. Despite challenges facing life with blindness and autism, AJ and his mother, Heidi, have worked with NCMC faculty members to develop his lifelong passion for music into a career. AJ has begun to take gigs as a working musician — although the sound of applause lights him up more than the money!
In the decades since its founding in 1986, the Northampton Community Music Center has never turned a qualifying student away for lack of funds, because everyone should have access to the power of music! NCMC has awarded more than one million dollars in scholarships through its financial aid program and taught more than 20,000 students, each leaving the Center with music beating in their hearts. As a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, NCMC’s mission is to foster the love and pursuit of music within our community through quality education, performances and activities that are accessible to all. Founded on the principle that music education is fundamental to the human experience and child development, the Center is committed to serving people of all ages, abilities, and financial backgrounds. With 30% of its budgeted revenue coming from "contributed income," such as grants and donations, NCMC relies heavily on the community to keep the beat going. In FY 2026 alone, the Center provided over $70,000 in scholarships to more than 200 local music students. In celebration of NCMC’s 40 years of bringing the joy of music to the area, the community is invited to help honor this milestone and launch the next extraordinary decade. A goal of raising $463,000 this year has been set to sustain and advance NCMC’s mission; explore ways to give at ncmc.net/give
Mill 1 (1 Open Square Way, Holyoke, MA 01040) is a gorgeous event space with high-ceiling pine beams, a gleaming maple wood floor, and warm brick walls in a classic New England mill building. Gala tickets ($150) will go on sale on September 15 and include one complimentary drink and hors d’oeuvres catered by Seth Mias Catering.
For more information, please contact Indë Francis at NCMC: (413) 585-0001.
