American Festival for the Arts (AFA) was founded in 1993 by Houston composer J. Todd Frazier to provide accessible, high-quality music education and performance opportunities for youth and to broaden the audience for both new American works and the Classical music repertory.

The Summer Music Conservatory

To achieve its mission, AFA presents an annual Summer Music Conservatory and Concert Series. This unique and acclaimed community-based music education program, featuring faculty members drawn from the nations’ finest educators, performers, composers and conductors, has become recognized as an important annual event in the cultural life of Southeast Texas and as a model for similar programs around the nation. A rigorous curriculum that includes large and small ensemble performance, music theory/enrichment classes and private lessons forms the core of AFA’s orchestra, jazz, choir, piano and composition departments.

The Conservatory is an inspiring, life changing experience for its students. AFA’s fourteenth Summer Music Conservatory, held at HISD's Pershing Middle School, enrolled 327 students from 107 elementary, middle and senior high schools. AFA presented seventeen free performances to thousands of area music lovers featuring more American works and world premieres than any other area presenter. More than three out of every five students received tuition assistance from the AFA Scholarship Enrichment Fund.

Fifteen Years : Making Music Matter

“We are very proud of this year's American Festival for the Arts (AFA) Summer Music Conservatory program. We began this season with an exciting new partnership with the Houston Independent School District that resulted in AFA moving to a new location at the Pershing Middle School campus. This important partnership is tangible evidence of AFA's commitment to the schools and students of Houston and of its continuing role as a safeguard for the arts in education throughout the region. In 2008, AFA also successfully launched a Middle School Choral and Vocal Studies program, thereby expanding its service to new communities of young musicians. The 2008 season saw more applications than ever before and AFA's largest student body in its history - proof that the arts in Houston are not only growing... but with the partnership of parents, schools, school districts and our arts partners, they are thriving! On behalf of the board, our faculty and, most importantly, our students, thank you for being part of our 2008 successes and we look forward to even more in 2009.”

– Michael Remson, Executive & Artistic Director

“I have always believed that the arts play an essential role in the complete education and optimum, balanced development of an individual. The knowledge and experience gained from the study of the arts develop a person in many ways: mentally, spiritually and through building one’s confidence, concentration, self-respect and discipline. These traits are then carried into all aspects of life. The American Festival for the Arts Summer Music Conservatory offers a unique haven for aspiring youth from diverse backgrounds and independent school districts to immerse themselves in a stimulating artistic environment with peers of similar interests. AFA concerts provide students with a supportive atmosphere in which to demonstrate their achievements and allow their families, teachers and members of the community to support their learning process. As a result, AFA directly enhances the cultural and educational lives of our youth and, in turn, their families, their friends, the local arts community, its concert audiences and the well being of our cultural future.”

– J. Todd Frazier, Founder