MUSIC MENTORSHIP
WITH ALEX CATON
The 2025 Mentorship Application (January - June 2025) will be available on this page September 1 and will close November 30, 2024.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
Apply for an apprenticeship award to study traditional music or singing with local musician Alex Caton! Receive one-on-one attention, regular private lessons, opportunities to play with and for others and a chance to really immerse and improve your skill over a six month period (January-June 2025). The ultimate goal is to help keep these music traditions alive and be able to pass on to future generations through performance and instruction.
Open to those 15 years and older with some proficiency (at least an intermediate level) in either Irish, old time or bluegrass fiddle, clawhammer banjo or harmony singing. Candidate must be willing and able to get transport to weekly lessons plus occasional jam sessions (including the open jam at The Arts Center in Orange and various others in the area), occasional gigs and visits to The Senior Center in Orange, The Boys and Girls Club and a final performance at The Arts Center. Apprentice must be willing and able to practice regularly outside of lesson time to prepare for jams and shows.
One applicant will be chosen for this mentorship program and will receive all of the benefits listed above at no cost.
ABOUT ALEX CATON
Alex Caton is an Irish, old time and bluegrass fiddler, clawhammer banjo player and singer who has dedicated her life to studying and teaching these traditions. She moved to the central Virginia area in 2001 and soon after started working with The Arts Center in Orange as an outreach artist playing and singing for Head Start pre-schoolers to seniors. Alex has toured internationally, recorded numerous albums, runs a traditional music camp in Highland County since 2005, and in 2009, at only 34 years of age, was nominated for a Virginia Heritage Award for her dedication to the preservation and continuation of traditional forms of music. She teaches privately at her home near Gordonsville and continues to work with The Arts Center in Orange as an outreach artist specializing in singing with seniors and now as a mentor to aspiring musicians.
APPLICATIONS FOR 2024 ARE NOW CLOSED.
THE APPLICATION FOR 2025 WILL OPEN SEPTEMBER 1.