When the Northampton Community Music Center (NCMC) first began, it didn’t have a permanent space — students took music lessons in living rooms. Now, the organization is getting ready to celebrate its 40th anniversary, joined by a household-name special guest.
NCMC will host its 40th anniversary gala at Mill 1 in Holyoke on Sunday, Nov. 8, from 2 to 4:30 p.m. The gala will include a short performance by longtime NCMC student AJ Strack, a pianist and vocalist, and an address by NCMC founder Bill Feinstein.
The headliner guest, however, is none other than Ken Burns, the award-winning documentary filmmaker and Hampshire College alum behind documentaries such as “The Civil War,” “The Vietnam War,” “Baseball” and “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea,” among others. Burns will participate in a 40-minute Q&A with NCMC board president Greg White, featuring a curated set of questions submitted in advance by guests.
Burns was a natural fit because of his knowledge of musical history: His body of work includes a documentary miniseries about country music and jazz.
“Everyone loves Ken for so many reasons… But what we were really interested in is his perspective on the role music has played in history and in society and how he sees the relevance of our mission relative to the state of the world,” said NCMC executive director Jason Trotta.
“You just have to get him rolling, and he’s got a lot to say on a lot of topics, so I think everyone’s very excited to hear his perspective,” Trotta said.
Trotta chose Strack to perform because he’s “very close to our hearts” and “exemplifies what we love to do,” he said. Strack, who is blind and has autism, played piano at the age of two, before he could communicate with words, and first got involved with NCMC by way of a music therapy program when he was a kid. Even when he was young, “It was clear to everybody that there was a lot there,” Trotta said.
“Everybody thinks of him as sort of symbolizing what’s so wonderful about this place, the opportunities that we’ve been able to make possible for him, and how the organization as a whole has been a home, a welcoming and safe and nurturing place, for him to develop as an artist and as a person and to gain the confidence that he has now as a performer,” Trotta said.
Strack is one of more than 20,000 students who have taken part in NCMC programming.
“I like taking music lessons because it makes me happy,” he said in an emailed statement through his mother, Heidi Strack. “It teaches me the right way of singing and playing the piano. It helps me perform better for people to enjoy.”
Knowing he was selected to perform for Ken Burns “makes me feel special,” he said, and the gala audience watching his set can expect to be “totally amazed!”
NCMC programming includes not only private lessons but also ensembles like the Ujima Singers, an Afrocentric music collective and the New Horizons Band of Western Mass, a concert band for seniors.
“The founding of the school really focused on children because it came out of so much loss in the public schools, but music is such a big part of the human experience that it’s natural that everybody in the community wants to be a part of it,” Trotta said.
Even with that many students, Trotta is proud that the organization has never turned away a qualifying student in need of funds — in fact, he said, one in four students at NCMC receives financial aid. In the 2026 fiscal year, the organization gave more than $70,000 in scholarships to more than 200 students. The organization is also debt-free thanks to an anonymous $200,000 donation it received in 2021, which paid off its mortgage.
“What really has strengthened the organization about having this home is, we’re not just a place that you can come and take your lesson and leave, and then you do all the other work at home. It’s a place where you can make real connections through music and meet other people with shared interests,” Trotta said. “And when you’re able to do that and make those community connections, special things happen that wouldn’t happen if you’re working solo.”
Trotta has been at the helm for 23 years, more than half of NCMC’s lifespan, and he’s seen its growth firsthand and, with it, “a feeling of us really having grounded ourselves over time and gained that respect in the community for what it is that we do,” he said. “What we’re doing feels more sustainable than ever because we have the community support to make it happen.” The next 40 years, Trotta said, will see more growth and a greater ability to make the venue and its programs more accessible, physically and financially, especially in the wake of funding cuts in the arts and culture world. Next year, in fact, NCMC will have a capital campaign to replace its two aging wheelchair lifts.
Suffice it to say, they’ve come a long way from instruction in living rooms.
“You think about where [NCMC] was 20 years ago […] and what we’ve done the last 20 years, I just think, ‘What’s gonna happen [in] the next 20 years if it continues to grow and be this invaluable resource for the community?’” White said. “It’s a wonderful organization.”
Tickets to the gala are $150. To purchase tickets or submit a question for Ken Burns, visit ncmc.net/40.
