Community Music Center
San Francisco’s Community Music Center’s mission is to make music accessible to people of all ages, musical levels, and financial backgrounds. Their students range in age from one to 90+ years old and enjoy classes in everything from Western classical to Chinese to Latin Music. Community Music Center has branches in San Francisco’s Mission and Richmond districts, as well as programs throughout the city. Founded in 1921, it is the Bay Area’s oldest community arts organization and San Francisco’s largest provider of high quality, affordable music education.
In 2014, the Community Music Center received support from ACTA’s Living Cultures Grants Program to support the development and production of La Posarela, a bilingual musical play that has become a valued part of the Mexican-American traditions of the Mission District. Utilizing traditional and rearranged music, dance, theater, and narration, it combines the traditions of Las Posadas and Las Pastorelas (traditional Latin American Christmas celebrations) into an elaborate production with more than seventy artists.