Common Ground on the Hill to include Westminster concert benefiting veterans

Grammy winner Tom Chapin engages students in his songwriting class during Common Ground on the Hill at McDaniel College on July 3, 2023. Virtual instruction for this year begins today. Brian Krista/Carroll County Times

Common Ground on the Hill, an annual gathering in Westminster that features live music and classes in artistic folk traditions, will return to the McDaniel College campus this summer.

In-person classes will be held the weeks of July 7-11 and July 14-18, following a week of virtual instruction, June 23-30.

“Traditions Weeks are like a best-parts version of the college experience,” said Maria Wong, Common Ground’s director of promotions and development. “For a lot of people, it’s about community, obviously, but it’s also an opportunity to be exposed to ideas and practices, things that you never, never were exposed to before.”

This year’s Common Ground on the Hill music festival will be replaced with a benefit concert to support the Veterans Initiative program, which allows veterans to attend courses for free. The concert, at 7:30 p.m. July 12 at McDaniel College Alumni Hall, will feature performances from Lost in Holland, Walt Michael & Co., and Grammy-nominated blues artist Guy Davis. Tickets cost $25, though active-duty military, veterans and their families may attend for free. A reception will be held before the event at 6:30 p.m.

“It is similar to the festival in that you’re getting a range of different musicians and different musical styles,” Wong said, “but what’s different is it’s really going to be concentrated in that evening performance, so it’s not an all-day event. It’s just a concert, but it should be really fun, and we’re really hoping to provide a good boost to our Veterans Initiative program through ticket sales, so that we can continue bringing veterans for free to experience our program.”

Wong said the program is a powerful way to help veterans, especially those with post-traumatic stress disorder.

“PTSD is huge,” Wong said, “and being able to do these kinds of programs with exposure to music and art and being able to freely express themselves in these safe ways, and to be in a community, can end up saving lives.”

The program has grown since it began more than a decade ago with a small group of Marine veterans who each had success reintegrating into civilian life, Wong said.

“A lot of them have said to us, ‘You saved me, this program saved me,’ ” Wong said, “and because of that, we feel really strongly about continuing this program.”

Classes will offer the wide range of learning opportunities attendees have come to expect, Wong said.

Participants can sign up to learn a skill that interests them, from common instruments such as guitar or rarer ones like dulcimer, to Cherokee pottery, wine appreciation, and many things in between. More than 100 weeklong classes will be offered in one of five daily time periods from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Bluegrass has long been a staple of Common Ground classes, and Wong said this year’s bluegrass program is built around influential banjoist Tony Trischka.

“We’ve been so fortunate that the kind of instructors who come to our program are people who really understand that we’re about community,” Wong said.

“We’re about learning from each other and working with each other, and that’s not to say that other camps aren’t that way at some level, but we really focus on the community aspect.”

Common Ground on the Hill is one of eight Maryland folklife centers and is supported by the Carroll County Arts Council, Maryland State Arts Council and Maryland Traditions.

The nonprofit organization was founded in 1994 “on the premise that there is a common human thread unifying all people expressed in our various artistic traditions,” according to its website.

This year, Common Ground’s program of courses will have an emphasis on Indigenous traditions, Wong said, following a Maryland State Arts Council initiative. Drew Shuptar-Rayvis, a citizen and cultural ambassador of the Pocomoke Indian Nation, will deliver a keynote address at 8 p.m. on July 14 at Alumni Hall about what it means to be a knowledge keeper in his tribal community.

The gathering will feature a slate of free concerts and lectures at 8 p.m. from July 7 to 18 at Alumni Hall, including old-time music July 8 and 15, blues on July 9 and 16, bluegrass on July 10, potpourri July 11 and 18, and Celtic/international music July 17.

John Willis will give a keynote lecture titled “The Arts Are Stronger Than Politics” on July 7.

“Every night we have either a concert or lecture or something that’s going on,” Wong said. “It’s free, and we hope people will just come out and be a part of it.”

For more information or to sign up for classes, go to www.commongroundon thehill.org.

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