Christian rock band Switchfoot has announced plans to open a pay-as-you-can music school in California to help less fortunate children with a passion for music obtain the "tool that will give them a lifetime of joy."
The new school will be called Bro-Am Studios, and will be located in Encinitas, California, where the band members grew up. It comes with a stage for bands to practice and perform. The children will even have a special room for one-on-one instruction. Because Switchfoot is a surfing band at heart, they have even installed outdoor showers that they could use during surfing breaks.
The band members will be choosing the instructors for the music school themselves, who will offer piano, guitar and other instrument lessons for ages 8 to 18 Monday through Thursday.
"Encinitas has a really wide socio-economic makeup," Switchfoot drummer Chad Butler told the Encinitas Advocate."Kids here in our own backyard don't necessarily have all the opportunities that we did growing up."
Switchfoot frontman Jon Foreman added that they want to throw a music party for kids that normally do not get the time of the day. "We wanted to cheer them on, and say: 'Your story matters. You're important.' And we wanted to give them more than just money; we wanted to give them the idea that their community cares about them," he told the San Diego Tribune.
Foreman added that they would have led totally different lives if they had not developed an interest in sports and music, so they want to do their part and help today's youth get in touch with their passions and creativity.
"We figured surfing and rock 'n' roll were the two things that kind of kept us out of trouble when we were kids, so let's try and pass that forward," he said.
