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WXOX @ Folklife 2025 Stax Music Academy Instructors Stax Music Academy Instructors Leah Buckley & Sam Franklin McCoy 2025 Smithsonian Folklife Festival Participants Interviewed by Lila Hayden WXOX Next Wave Academy 2025 Smithsonian Folklife Festival Youth & the Future of Culture July 5, 2025 The mission of the Stax Music Academy is to inspire young people and enhance their academic, cognitive, performance, and leadership skills through music, focusing on the rich legacy of Stax Records. Since 2000, the academy has been igniting the professional careers of musicians including MonoNeon, Amber Robinson, and Evvie McKinney.  In addition to providing music performance and music theory training in popular genres such as blues, gospel, rock ’n’ roll, and R&B, Stax teaches music history, business, and leadership, ensuring students can produce their own music and create their own musical paths. Previously, members of Stax Music Academy participated in the 2011 Festival’s Rhythm and Blues program and the 2016 event Freedom Sounds, celebrating the opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. At the 2025 Festival, Stax Music Academy students and instructors performed concerts, talked about their musical careers, recorded music in the New Sounds Lab, and offered workshops for visitors. LINKS: WXOX Interview: Stax Music Academy Students Stax Music Academy Website Stax Music Academy on Facebook Stax Music Academy on YouTube WXOX Folklife 2025 Episode List              WXOX General Manager: Sharon Scott WXOX Chief Operator: Sean Selby WXOX Next Wave Director: Max $ Selby WXOX Audio Editor: Brian Manley Contact Us: nextwave@artxfm.com

           

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