Get ready to ROCK! The Rotary Centre for the Arts is gearing up for a new youth program the fall – RCA’s very own Rock School. We may not have Jack Black, but we think we have the next best thing. To teach the next generation of rock stars, Ezra Cipes of The Oot n' Oots will join RCA’s Marketing Manager, Laura Schultz, from Down the Lees, and RCA’s Community Educational Programming Specialist, Andrew Stauffer, from Branchroot Ensemble.

We sat down with Laura and Andrew to chat about the importance of Rock School. Their shared struggles and experiences growing up playing music sparked the idea to create a Rock School to provide young musicians with more accessible learning opportunities.

“What I’ve noticed about Kelowna is that there doesn't seem to be much of an all-ages music scene that supports and encourages youth to get on stage in a big way,” says Laura. “We felt like there was an opportunity to step up the game. This is where we came up with the idea for the RCA Rock School.”

Both Andrew and Laura grew up dreaming of playing music in bands, but it wasn’t always easy to get the experience they needed. Laura started playing guitar alone in her room at the age of 10 but wasn’t able to join a band until the age of 20.

“There wasn’t anything around that allowed me to play with other kids; it wasn't heralded as something to do. I would go to lessons one-on-one, but there was never really any band structure or learning how to be in a band.”

While Andrew was growing up in a small town in Texas, he says from a young age all he wanted to do was jam.

“I got a drum set and all I wanted to do was rock out with my buddies. We got pretty good but didn’t have many spaces to play. We’d try to find venues but adults were often skeptical of us. Fortunately, we were able to work something out with a local American Legion hall to rent a stage for super cheap. We played music with a couple of bands and had Rock Fights - kind of a play on Battle of the Bands, but everybody wins in a rock fight.”

“I learned many valuable lessons both as a musician but also as an arts organizer,” Andrew continues, “Now that I’m an adult with access to instruments and a venue, and with colleagues who are interested in teaching, I want to make what I had growing up more accessible for teens and youth who are looking to play music now.”

There’s a lot to being in a band besides just playing an instrument. "Running a band, how you work within the band, how you write a song together, how you come up with your brand when you get bigger..." Laura explains. “I learned all of that as I built my career as a musician and I wish I had it right out of the gate to have a stepping stone on what you need to do to be in a band."

The team recruited Ezra Cipes from the much loved Juno-nominated Okanagan children's rock band, The Oot n’ Oots, to be an instructor alongside them. He will be teaching bass and singing, Laura will be handling guitar, singing, and keyboard, and Andrew will focus on drums.

The focus of Rock School won’t just be on rocking out. It was important to our team to emphasize how art and music benefit children's mental health.

“I felt like it needed to be something that speaks to the mental health of kids. Art and music go hand in hand with mental health,” says Laura.

“We value our doctors, nurses, psychologists, and other people who save lives. As an artist and as an arts organizer I think that it’s the artists and the arts that make, in a lot of ways, a life worth living. Imagine if you took away the film, dance, and singing altogether… There would be a big gaping hole in the heart of our community.” Andrew added, “I think we need to respect that and do what we can to lift the arts as a way to lift each other,”

None of this would be possible without funding. As a non-profit organization, the RCA depends on the generosity of sponsors to help fund important projects such as Rock School.

“When starting a Rock School, there are a lot of upfront costs. We have to purchase guitar amps, bass amps, drums, drum heads, sticks, cables, microphones, all kinds of things,” says Andrew.

Once the word got out that the RCA was starting a Rock School, we’ve had some very excited partners jump on board so far. A huge thank you to ENGEL & VOLKERS, Axiom Mortgage Solutions, K96.3 Classic Rock, and New Country 100.7 for their help.

The Rock School itself (beginning in September) is open to youth ages 11-17 with little or no experience in playing an instrument. Kids will learn instrument techniques and get to experiment with several different instruments. They’ll learn about rock history, being in a band, band etiquette, the basics of setting up tech gear, and much more. In the end, they will have a chance to perform on the Mary Irwin stage in a final concert.