JazzArts Summer Music Camp

2026 JazzArts Summer Music Camp, presented at UNC Charlotte

JUNE 22-26, 2026,  9:00am-3:00pm
UNC Charlotte Main Campus
Robinson Hall, 9027 Mary Alexander Rd

REGISTRATION CLOSES, JUNE 15 at 5:00pm.

The JazzArts Summer Music Camp is an exciting one-week comprehensive music training program for students, grades 7-12, devoted to America’s original art form: JAZZ. Students will be immersed in an intensive jazz curriculum and have the opportunity to interact and play with other motivated young musicians from across the Charlotte region.

The JazzArts Summer Music Camp curriculum includes small combo performance, jazz improvisation, jazz history and listening, jazz theory (basic to advanced), master class instruction on bass, drums, guitar, piano, saxophone (all woodwinds), trombone and trumpet, and student jam sessions. All instruments are welcome, including vocals.

There will be a culminating community concert performance on Friday evening, the last day of camp.

2025 Special Guest Clinician: Sharel Cassity

Saxophonist, Flutist, and Educator Sharel Cassity is prominent on the New York and Chicago jazz scenes. Voted the 2023 “Rising Star Alto Saxophone” and having a cover feature in Downbeat Magazine, Sharel has appeared on the Today Show, Good Morning America, and The Colbert Show; she is in the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame and is a recipient of the ASCAP Young Jazz Composers Award.

Sharel has worked with Multi-Grammy Award-winning artist Jennifer Hudson, Top 40 hit singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant, Aretha Franklin, Vanessa Williams, Trisha Yearwood, Ruben Blades, & DJ Logic, among others. An avid jazz artist, Sharel has performed with NEA Jazz Masters Herbie Hancock, Wynton Marsalis, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Jimmy Heath, and Gary Bartz; she has also appeared as a featured soloist with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. As a bandleader, Sharel’s five albums as a leader have received top-rated reviews in publications like the Chicago Tribune, New York Times, JazzTimes, Jazziz, American Indian News, & earned cover stories in Saxophone Journal and Downbeat Magazine. Cassity’s collaborations have led her to co-lead recent releases by groups Altoizm, Precarious Towers, and her upcoming 2024 female collaboration, Alliance.

An advocate for Jazz Education, Cassity established the non-profit educational program “Jazz Up!” which brings jazz professionals to students in the suburbs who cannot go to hear live Jazz or play in combo settings. Cassity is a jazz professor in the Chicago area at DePaul University & Elgin Community College.

Placement Auditions

Auditions are held for placement at the appropriate skill level. Students at all levels, with at least one year experience in a school band or private lessons, are welcome! Four skill levels are offered.  Click here for audition details.

Auditions will take place on Saturday, June 20 in Robinson Hall on the campus of UNC Charlotte. Students who participated in a JazzArts Academy Spring 2026 program are not required to audition.

Tuition

$385 (includes $20 registration fee).

Limited need-based Financial Aid scholarships are available to eligible students for up to 90 percent of the tuition costs. Please email info@thejazzarts.org to register if you are applying for financial aid or seeking a payment plan, as you will not be able to complete the registration online. The deadline to apply for financial aid June 1st.

If you are registering multiple children, please contact Education Director, Patrick Brown, at pbrown@thejazzarts.org to receive a purchase code for a “sibling discount.”

Payment and Refund Policy

Tuition is due at the time of registration. Full payment may be made by check, money order or credit card. A payment plan is available if prearranged.  A full refund will be granted up to one week before the first program day – minus the $20.00 registration fee.

Have a question?

If you’ve got a question we didn’t answer on the website, call us at 704-334-3900 or contact Education Director Patrick Brown directly at pbrown@thejazzarts.org.

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Special Thanks

Thank you to the Infusion Fund, South Arts, Ford Foundation, Alice L. Walton Foundation, North Carolina Arts Council, and Knight Foundation for providing the generous support that allows this program to remain accessible and affordable.

Special thank you to UNC Charlotte, Bank of America, Akers Foundation, and The Ella Fitzgerald Foundation for their belief in students having the opportunity to learn jazz.