With support from the California Arts Council, South Bay Guitar Society of San Jose, a small arts organization, will present ‘Boss Guitars,’ a series of 8 free masterclasses with renowned Bay Area-based guitarists from the the Black and Latinx cultural traditions of jazz, blues, R&B, gospel, salsa, samba, and South American folk music. ‘Boss Guitars’ will be collaboratively developed with community members and address a community-identified need to create an accessible environment for intergenerational arts learning and to center Black and Latinx artists whose cultural traditions are threatened by gentrification in the Bay Area.
South Bay Guitar Society offers concerts, monthly in-person and virtual open mic events; performances and presentations at assisted living centers, social service facilities, hospitals, libraries, community centers, and corporate campuses; lectures; educational forums; recitals; school presentations by local and visiting artists; educational resources through our website and social media pages; and referrals and marketing opportunities.
We offer a virtual open mic second Tuesdays of the month and present 3-4 in-person open mics per month at local libraries.We present 10-15 concerts and 10-15 masterclasses with featured artists annually, including both local and international talent. We have presented the Jerry Snyder GuitarFest annually for 20 years, including two days of masterclasses and performances, an open, mic and a luthier display.
We present an annual Young Date and Inja Kim Composition Competition, offering cash prizes for original works for classical guitar quartet written by composer of all ages. Three winners have their works performed at the annual Jerry Snyder GuitarFest.
SBGS has produced over 300 concerts, sponsored over 200 masterclasses and held over 1000 open mic events. Video footage from these events is shared on our website as an educational resource, along with compositional scores and artist interviews.