HARRISONBURG, VA (ACV) – As part of its year-long 25th anniversary celebration, Arts Council of the Valley (ACV) is hosting a free community concert at Court Square Theater (CST) Friday, September 19 at 7 pm. The performance features three Advancing the Arts grant recipients: Good Company A Cappella, The Hot Mamas, and TimeStamp Jazz Sextet.

Doors open at 6:30 pm for the 7 pm show. Concessions will be available for purchase, and any donations will be earmarked for the Advancing the Arts grant program.

Good Company is a six-member a cappella group based out of the Shenandoah Valley. Two-time winners of the Shenandoah Valley Sing-Off hosted by the Shenandoah Valley Children’s Choir, the group has hosted more than 25 concerts all along the east coast. In recent years they have produced live streamed performances and several music videos for their audiences.

In Fall 2022, The Hot Mamas received a Creative Inspiration grant – written by group member Mallory McKendry – to record The Hot Mamas Live at Clementine Cafe album. The group also hosted a singer-songwriter contest featuring 10 female contestants. The Hot Mamas are a collective of musicians creating sassy and quirky jazz, pop, blues, and more with unexpected instruments and empowering harmonies.

Trombonist Robert Mott has received two Creative Inspiration grants – in Fall 2023 and Fall 2024 – to pull together a group of outstanding musicians for two free concerts exploring the jazz-soul connection. A sextet of supremely talented professional jazz musicians — hailing from New York City to Washington DC to Lynchburg to Harrisonburg to Staunton – TimeStamp Jazz Sextet plays the music of Count Basie, Wayne Shorter, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Kenny Rittenhouse and more.

ACV’s Advancing the Arts program awards grants to artists and art educators in Fall and Spring cycles each year for projects designed to benefit the Harrisonburg-Rockingham community. Riner Rentals is Advancing the Arts Grants 2025 Sponsor. Grants range from $500 to $1,500 in two categories: Arts for Education and Creative Inspiration. In 2024-25, ACV allotted a total of $20,000 to seven Arts for Education and eight Creative Inspiration projects designed to serve some 135,000 people. More than $518,300 has been awarded to artists and art educators since ACV launched the grants program in 2001.

Visit valleyarts.org/grants-arts-for-education or valleyarts.org/grants-creative-inspiration for Fall 2025 guidelines and application materials. A full list of grant recipients is available at valleyarts.org/grant-recipients.