American Music Program

The American Music Program is an educational program founded by Thara Memory at the King School, serving the Portland, Oregon area. The musicians enrolled in this magnet school program attend middle and high schools in their own communities. The stated "purpose of the organization is to train global ambassadors in American Art Music-Jazz. This training will open the doors for social, cultural and global identification so that students may experience a more meaningful connection between their lives, community, school and the world. Students in this program are recruited from culturally diverse backgrounds. The goal is to not only perform the music of American culture (including, but not limited to Ellington, Basie, Coltrane, Armstrong and Davis) but also to display its finest qualities in the representative lives of the students, their families and the community."