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An enduring mission

Since 1984, Concord Community Music School (CCMS) has been committed to high
standards of teaching and performance, a focus on individual attention and making
music together, and its stated mission:
“To foster a sense of community through music by providing the fullest possible array of
musical experiences for people of all ages, musical abilities, and backgrounds.”
As one of the first community music schools nationwide of its size outside of a
metropolitan area, CCMS has 50 faculty members and 1,400 weekly students, ranging in
age from six months to 92 years, from more than 100 communities. Faculty, students, and
guest artists present more than 150 public concerts, workshops, and lectures each year.

The School has transformed a former church and parsonage in downtown Concord.
More than 130,000 visits annually to this lively musical hub prompted business leaders
to cite the Music School as an anchor institution in the region’s Creative Economy.

Students studying classical, jazz, rock, and folk music make music together in
ensembles and choruses, attend workshops, and perform frequently. Lifelong learning
“The Music School provides a music infra- begins with early childhood Music & Movement and welcomes older adults in lessons
structure of excellence for much of the and ensembles.
‘vulnerable’ population of the state, including
the public schools that have the very high Recognized nationally for program innovation and management excellence, the School
immigrant population levels, the early has received major funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Wallace
childhood centers that serve the most indigent Foundation, the Hearst Foundation, Jane’s Trust, and the New Hampshire Charitable
families, and the special needs populations of Foundation. True to its Settlement House roots, it shares with community arts schools
children in multiple sites.” nationwide a mission of inclusion, and has been recognized with the Governor’s Arts
Award for Cultural Access Leadership and as a 2014 Champion for Mental Health by
- Donald Shumway, past president and CEO, Riverbend Community Mental Health.
Crotched Mountain, and past board chair, CCMS
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