TWO EVENTS ON THE ISLAND!

It's our 16th anniversary, and we're celebrating with some truly big news -- we're adding a second week on the island! This page will describe the difference between the two events we're hosting this year.

June 7-12: Miles of Music Family Reunion

The new event will be one week earlier and one day shorter than "the original" Island Camp. We have a quirk of the calendar to thank for this opportunity, and it honestly may never happen again! 

This rarity inspired us to try something completely different with the programming — as in, a program of NO PROGRAM! This won't be entirely true, of course. We won't be able to stop ourselves from hosting some jams and concerts, and encouraging some mutual skill shares (sailing, anyone?). But for the most part, we're going to trust that our community is capable of — and maybe even thirsting for — a little unstructured time on the island with friends. 

And this brings me to perhaps the main difference between the Family Reunion and Island Camp 2026. While the latter is actively open to EVERYONE, the former will be open only to people who have attended some Miles of Music event in the past (with guests). Please read this as being less about "exclusivity" and more about our capacity to welcome a large number of brand new people with a limited number of staff. 

Based on initial feedback to the idea, we think this week will be popular with our long-time supporters, we're ok with making it about you!

So this brings me to the “second" week, which is actually... 

June 13-19: Island Camp

Here we are proud to welcome musicians of all ages and abilities -- old friends and strangers alike. This is the event we've been growing and shaping since 2011, and it just gets better every year. 

For Island Camp, we hire a pile of incredible instructors who collaborate with us on a class schedule that's so packed that we invented February's Reprise! Festival of Online Workshops as a response to the frequent complaint that there are too many good things to choose from.

I'm excited to share that this year's Traditional Music Exploration will be a first for us-- we're presenting The Great American Songbook, with the duo Rachael & Vilray leading the way. Everyone on the island will have an opportunity to learn something from these deep musicians. 

Then we’ll balance the day with plenty of opportunity for studying your acoustic instrument of choice in a variety of styles, as well as songwriting, yoga, visual art, activities for kids, ensemble playing, conversations, concerts, and more. A partial list of Instructors is available here. 

At Island Camp, we hold about 1/3 of the spaces for newcomers, so (unlike the Family Reunion), the Lottery may actually privilege the new folks here.

For both of these events, Miles of Music maintains a deep commitment to accessibility and inclusivity in a variety of ways. While we've raised the prices for the first time in several years, we're still priced affordably, and we offer discounts by application through our Work Trade program, our Merit & Community Discount program, and for Island Camp, we offer a voluntary tiered tuition system in which any accepted camper can choose a discounted tuition rate. 

As you consider applying for one or both events, please consult the event-specific pages on this web site, read our FAQ, and if you still have questions, don't hesitate to ask! 

With sincere gratitude and excitement for this new year,

Kristin Andreassen
Co-Founder, Executive Director & Island Camp Artistic Director
Miles of Music