AMP accepts:
Vocalists
Guitarists
Bass Guitarists
Keyboardists
Drummers
Percussion Players
Electronic Music Producers
Orchestral Instruments (on a case-by-case basis)
About AMP
Play with a band. Grow with a band.
The Academy of Musical Performance is a contemporary music education program whose goal is to enrich the lives of young musicians living in the Coachella Valley by fostering productivity and social responsibility through creativity, communication and collaboration in the development and enhancement of musical performance and concert production skills through participation in a "rock band" style educational setting.
AMP teaches kids how to play in a band and facilitates performances throughout the community, keeping kids engaged in positive community-based activities. AMP runs a summer camp program and year-round after-school rehearsals from our rehearsal space in Indio, CA.
AMP is known for its outstanding summer program, AMP Summer Camp, featuring the Valley's top musicians teaching, in small rock band format, Coachella Valley's young musicians in their performance and concert production skills through rehearsals, workshops, individual instruction, and live performances. AMP quickly expanded our programming to offer AMP Fall and Spring, continuing the rock band education and experience throughout the school year, along with building other programs such as preAMP and AMP’s Instrument Zoo.
AMP Summer, Spring, and Fall is open to students between ages 11—18 from the desert communities of Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Desert Hot Springs, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Indian Wells, La Quinta, Bermuda Dunes, Indio, Coachella, and Thermal.
In 2015, AMP was an idea by CVCT board member, Roman Whittaker, who pitched it to Goldenvoice for seed funding to get the program on it's feet. AMP was created by a committee of volunteers involved with Coachella Valley Community Trust. We have many additional community sponsors from around the valley. In addition, the AMP Board of Directors is dedicated to the fundraising process.
AMP's Mission Statement
The Academy of Musical Performance is a contemporary music education program whose goal is to enrich the lives of young musicians living in the Coachella Valley by fostering productivity and social responsibility through creativity, communication and collaboration in the development and enhancement of musical performance and concert production skills through participation in a "rock band" style educational setting.
AMP LEADERSHIP
Co-founder, Board President & Volunteer CEO: Kate Spates
Executive Director & Music Educator: Will Sturgeon
Executive Assistant: Josiah Gonzalez
Secretary & Treasurer: Cherise Sonderman
Co-Founder & Board Chairperson: Roman Whittaker
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Will Sturgeon is a local musician and music educator with a world of experience.
Born and raised in the Coachella Valley, Will spent his teenage years sneaking off into the Palm Valley School band room to jam on Zeppelin with the one guitarist in his grade, while dreaming of exploring his favorite music in a larger community of local young musicians. Nothing like that existed at the time in the desert, so Sturgeon began to write and upload music onto the internet while learning how to record in his boarding school’s new recording studio.
Sturgeon went on to claim the title of the first graduate of the University of Southern California’s Popular Music Performance program in 2012, where he spent four years studying songwriting and performance in one of the world’s biggest music cities under some of the founders of contemporary music and education: Steve Miller, Lamont Dozier, Patrice Rushen, Chris Sampson, and more.
He has seen successes with his various musical projects that include song placements in outlets like HBO & MTV, touring the country, recording with Spike Edney (Queen) and Will Hollis (The Eagles), winning Best Producer two years in a row and producing award-winning albums with Coachella Valley talent with The Sturdio, and singing his original songs with his band brightener on the Outdoor Stage at Coachella Music Festival in 2016 – a lifelong dream for this desert songwriter.
Sturgeon turned his attention back to the desert in 2015 when he caught wind of a summer camp rock-band program called AMP, and has been involved with AMP ever since. Will loves working with the inspiring minds of the next generation, and has a passion for serving students of the Coachella Valley an alternate music education. Sturgeon received his Master’s in Music Education from Boston University in order to continue to serve the next generation of the Coachella Valley’s musicians. His goal for AMP is to provide young musicians with a place to find belonging through shared musical passion and teamwork — and through that process, he hopes they find themselves as well.
In 2020, Sturgeon was honored with the Above and Beyond Award for exemplary leadership and service at AMP by Angel Light Academy.
Connect with Will about AMP at will@ampcv.org