Handmade Music School Giving Tuesday 2025

Handmade Music School
2025 Giving Tuesday Campaign

The Handmade Music School in Floyd, Virginia, strives to cultivate and strengthen community through experiences in music and dance rooted in our Appalachian traditions. We envision thriving communities that connect through place-based traditions and are asking for your support this Giving Tuesday 2025 as we deepen and expand our programming with this north star in mind. 

Your donations will fund operations for the Handmade Music School, provide support for our numerous programs and camps, and will help support our Share The Music Scholarship Fund. Your donations will help support our team in building upon existing opportunities and creating new vibrant music and dance opportunities. It's our mission to welcome everyone into the Handmade Music School community without finances getting in the way, and also to support the musicians and teachers that make these opportunities possible. 

In addition to youth programming at HMS, we are designed to serve everyone from 0 - 100 and currently have programming that serves all of these ages from Joy Jammers to our Harmonic Heritage project, we love to invite people into our circle of learning and we provide scholarships for all ages and people from our community and around the world.

About HMS Programming:

Engaging young people is vital in preserving the future of these beautiful traditions and creating sustainable community. We are dedicated to creating opportunities for young people and their families to engage during and after their school day and throughout the week while making these opportunities accessible to all. This currently happens through private lessons, recurring classes, workshops, camps, presentations, and community jams as well as regular performance opportunities. Our annual summer camps are an incredible opportunity for youth to take a deep dive into traditional music and dance, while developing an understanding of local culture and Appalachian traditions through hands-on experiences. Through consistent guided engagement with community members and mentors, we demonstrate the importance of community, mentorship, and lasting friendships while students develop their own connection to these traditions and share their own blossoming and unique skills. 

• We partner with Kari Kovick's Heart of the Child Education program to bring Baby Beats and Joy Jammers to our youngest students (ages 0 - 6) on Friday mornings at the Floyd Country Store. These FUN and developmentally appropriate classes foster a love of music while building foundational musical skills, safe connection, secure attachment, and healthy community.

• Our Youth Get Together Camp has doubled in capacity in the last year to serve our community and will continue our mission of ensuring that the next generation gets to experience the community and joy found in our traditional music and dance. Students in our Teen Camp enjoyed multiple performances opportunities to share what they learned this summer, and students in our Youth Camp had a blast learning, playing, and creating. Check out our 2025 Camp Video to see how much fun we had! 

• Our Handmade Youth Stringband program is currently underway and thriving. This semester-long, weekly group music class for musicians ages 7-14 has been well attended and we are excited to continue to build on this programming.

• Our 2025 Floyd County Old Time Get Together was a fantastic success, and we're excited to keep this tradition going for the 7th Annual event in March 2026. The camp weekend for adults offers intermediate and advanced classes in fiddle, banjo, mandolin, guitar, bass, and singing. Afternoon sessions feature presentations and workshops with visiting masters, and evenings offer square-dancing, concerts, and lots of tune-playing opportunities.

• We were excited to bring back the Step-A-Tune Dance Weekend in November 2025 for the Second Annual event - we'll definitely be doing this one again next year! This event is a rare opportunity for intermediate to advanced percussive dancers—including cloggers and flatfooters—to dig deeper into their percussive dance practice, connect with fellow dancers, and be inspired to push their craft further. 

• We're in the middle of creating NEW programs for our teen students, and working on new exciting opportunities for adults as well! 2026 will be a BIG year for the Handmade Music School! 

• The Share The Music Scholarship Fund was created to further the goal of HMS to make all of our programming available and accessible to all area youth, and the greater community regardless of means. 

Your generous support during this Giving Tuesday Campaign will help us to continue these programs and to celebrate and support our Appalachian culture and traditions.

THANK YOU!!