Fox Valley Music Foundation

Residency programs in 2022 the music foundation, in cooperation with the pete ellman jazz big band nfp, began a weekly residency program, presenting 38 jazz big band concerts that included 45 middle and high school jazz bands as "openers" prior to the professional big band concerts. This program speaks directly to our mission to provide affordable music programming and education to all. This program is a way to get budding musicians into a real-world environment where they can play in front of a live audience as well as parents and classmates. The highly successful series takes place from mid- october thru june and sells out on a regular basis. In addition to the jazz residency, the venue is pleased to have terrapin flyer as a monthly residency. The grateful dead tribute band performs on the second thursday of each month to packed audiences. What is at the core of the residency is the idea that the grateful dead and jerry garcia's music still has plenty of life in it and that the music being so improvisational in nature can and does go to new places in each performance. No two terrapin flyer shows are ever the same and you never know who might show up to jam at a show.

Music education rock talk free lecture series with professor mark plummer the music foundation in collaboration with professor mark plummer of aurora university presented a 4-part, free lecture series called rock talk. The informative, educational and entertaining series took place on sunday afternoons, giving patrons of all ages, an in depth look at important, historical music events, including the monterey international pop festival, the rise and fall of stax records, the altamont music festival of 1969 and the magnum opus. Filled with facts, photos, music video clips, interviews and more, the successful series will be back again next year to explore more music history.

In addition to items listed above, fvmf is proud to continue their singer/songwriter programming which provides opportunities for aspiring musicians to present their music, learn their craft and share music with others. The music in mundy outdoor concert series evolved into a summer festival series: june/blues, july/jazz and august/americana. 2022 saw increased collaboration with other non-profit organizations through rentals, assisting in fundraising efforts for their organizations, some of which included united way, the neighbor project, rouse 3.0 and the kane county bar association. The venue has also hosted many workshops and seminars for the city of aurora and fox valley businesses in an effort to increase revenue to cover programming costs. The venue has become a true community gathering place where both musicians, patrons and volunteers can gather with a common purpose. Our hardworking volunteers contribute their time and talents to ensure that the fvmf and the venue will continue to operate successfully in the coming years.