The 2026-27 school year will mark the 10th anniversary of students showcasing their talents in Blues Jam.
Blues Jam is a student-run event that occurs two to three times per year during lunch in the Page Street campus backyard. A member of the Student Committee started the event in the 2016-17 school year as an evening music event to raise funds for Bread and Roses, a Bay Area nonprofit that provides opportunities for those with limited access to music education and experience.
Over the past decade, Blues Jam has shifted from a music-focused fundraiser to an opportunity for students to display various talents. “From the name, it sounds like a very musical thing. But, over the years, I’ve seen it branch out to any … performance or art or anything [else] that showcases a unique talent or trait of a member of the Urban community,” said Benson Liu ’27, member of the StuCo Blues Jam subcommittee.
Lucy Cervarich ’28 performed at Blues Jam for the second time this past fall. Cervarich sang “Means I Care” by Tate McRae with Amelia Fishman ’28. “It’s a space to unwind [and] get to hear from your peers in a way that you don’t normally get to see,” she said. “[Blues Jam] spotlight[s] a lot of people and their talents [when] there’s not regularly any place for them to do that.”
Before the pandemic, Blues Jam took place in the Gumption Theater after school. Now, it is held in the garden during lunch periods. “Since it’s outside, it feels more open and I’m able to do stuff without being too serious,” said Fergus Osborn-Hobbs ’29, who performed magic routines at both Blues Jam events this year. “If I were, for example, inside a theater, it would feel a lot more like an actual event … where if I didn’t give [people] a good show, then they would leave.”
Scott Foster, the performing arts department chair, reflected on the event’s evolution. “When [Blues Jam] first started, it was an evening performance, and you had to say, ‘Okay, I’m gonna go to Blues Jam, and it’s gonna be a thing.’ But now it’s just, ‘Hey, come outside at lunch and check it out,’ which I love, ’cause it’s super egalitarian,” he said. “Sometimes I’ll watch the audience as much as I watch the performers, just to see the reactions.”
Blues Jam is open to all grades and all skill levels. Singer-songwriter Laia Trachtenberg ’26, first performed at Blues Jam as a sophomore. “That was the first time I’d really shared my songs publicly with other people. Now I do it as a job [or] profession, but before [Blues Jam], I couldn’t even imagine doing that,” she said. “So, in a way, that kind of jump-started the [music] career I have right now. … Without Blues Jam, I don’t think I would have had the courage to actually get into music and put my art out.”
Many students perform for the first time at Blues Jam. “We want [Blues Jam] to be a place where people are just experimenting,” Dean of Student Activities Skyler Silverman said. “You don’t have to be super ambitious about your art. It can just be a place to share it with your peers. And I think that’s a really important part of Blues Jam.”