À propos de
OUR STORY
SLAM was founded in response to an unforeseen need for financial aid among families enrolled in musicgarage.org, the award-winning after-school, rock music performance program created and managed by SLAM Executive Director and CoFounder, Steve Auerbach from 2009-2019.
During the ten years of musicgarage.org, an unforeseen need for financial aid among students' families arose, and ultimately Steve decided that a nonprofit needed to be formed in order to build community financial support. Thanks to the Lightspark Foundation, a generous board of directors, the community, other foundations, businesses, as well as City, County, and State government programs, SLAM was founded in 2019 by Steve Auerbach, Terence Hansen, and Derrek Wright.
SLAM opened its doors in January 2020, and within 90 days was faced with the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. SLAM prevailed over the pandemic, incident-free, and since then, has grown to serve nearly 200 students. Students come to SLAM from five northern Utah Counties by car, train, bus, and bicycle to grow their musical, social, and life skills in our programs.
WHAT IS SLAM?
We are an inclusive and equitable provider of after-school lessons, performance, composition, songwriting, recording, and summer camp programs for K-12 kids of all backgrounds, and skill levels. Whether a student has aspirations in rock, classical, jazz, pop, blues, bluegrass, or electronic music, we believe they deserve access to quality musical instruments, instruction, programs, and opportunities - all on a free-to-fee sliding scale.
OUR BELIEFS
SLAM believes in experiential learning (learning by doing). We provide access to musical instruments, instruction, performance, and recording programs for ages 6-19 of all skill levels, backgrounds, and aspirations regardless of socioeconomics. We amplify (often literally) each student's uniquely creative voice through programs that grow musical, social, and academic skills through individual and group mentorship.
OUR MISSION
SLAM's mission is to ensure that youth in our community have the opportunity to explore and develop their passion for music. We do this by providing inclusive and equitable access to instruments, lessons, performance, recording, and touring programs - all on a free-to-fee sliding scale. We envision a community in which people of all ages are connected through music.