Oregon Festival of American Music 2016 (OFAM) at the The John G. Shedd Institute of the Arts is in their 25th season. Jim Ralph, co-founder, brought a few of the OFAM performers to entertain us at today’s meeting.

G.I. Jive, Good Cheer From Home, 1939-45 is happening now through August 13 at the Shedd. You can find the full schedule on the Shedd website.

Check out a snippet from their performance on our Facebook page.

Here’s a little bit from their program:

“The 25th annual Oregon Festival of American Music celebrates the role that popular entertainment played during World War II. That effort was massive, complex, and markedly well-organized. Individual entertainers, the entertainment industry and the government worked together to marshal the resolve and bolster the morale of our armed forces throughout the world and of the folks back home.”

Community Note from the OFAM Website: The Shedd runs a Music School, offering classes and private lessons for all ages in a wide range of musical instruments and styles. The school also offers summer music camps, a school music enrichment assembly program, and special workshops associated with select Shedd concerts. Learn more here: https://www.theshedd.org/dive/musicschool.aspx