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Stax Music Academy (uncredited)

Stax Music Academy

Founded in 2000, Stax Music Academy (SMA) was created to provide viable, affordable options for mentoring and youth development, using music as its tool. The Academy especially focuses on serving at-risk youth of the surrounding Soulsville area, the fertile Memphis neighborhood that gave birth to numerous legendary songwriters and performers, including Aretha Franklin who sang in her father's Metropolitan Baptist Church as a young girl, David Porter, Stax Records house composer, and Al Green whose 1970s mega-hits were recorded at Willie Mitchell's Royal Studios. SMA provides students with music education and unique performance opportunities, with the goals of enhancing their leadership and academic skills and inspiring them to become facilitators for community change. SMA's vision is rooted in the belief that music can shape a young person's life. We use music as a tool to mentor young people, and instill them with a set of values and skills that will serve them throughout the rest of their lives.

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Watch Past Performances

STAX Music Academy 7/1/11: STAX Music Academy

Named for the famous Stax Records, the Memphis, TN organization uses R&B music as a tool to mentor young people. Part of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, this year celebrating Rhythm and Blues: Tell It Like It Is, The Peace Corps, and Colombia: The Nature of Culture.

STAX Music Academy

Named for the famous Stax Records, the Memphis, TN organization uses R&B music as a tool to mentor young people. Part of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, this year celebrating Rhythm and Blues: Tell It Like It Is, The Peace Corps, and Colombia: The Nature of Culture.
Students from the Stax Music Academy 7/4/07: Students from the Stax Music Academy

Students from the Stax Music Academy in Memphis, next to the legendary Stax Record Company where the Stax Museum of American Soul Music is now located, perform a program focused on the music of soul artist Otis Redding.

Students from the Stax Music Academy

Students from the Stax Music Academy in Memphis, next to the legendary Stax Record Company where the Stax Museum of American Soul Music is now located, perform a program focused on the music of soul artist Otis Redding.

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