FAQs

Click on “Join Us” anywhere on this site to get started. You’ll create an account for your family on our online system and then log in to fill out your session request, which will include information about the applicant, audition date and time preferences (if necessary), and the optional financial aid application. There is no cost to apply or audition.

Audition dates can be found  on each program page. For Fall sessions, auditions are in late August; Spring session auditions are held in January; Summer Music Festival auditions are throughout the months of March and April.

AFA’s offices are located in Houston’s East End at 241 N. Milby Street, Suite B (77003); the Chamber Music Academy is held at the same address inside Garza Studios; the AFA Summer Music Festival is held at Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA), 790 Austin Street in the heart of downtown Houston.

Admission status will be sent via email following the applicant’s audition. If you applied for a non-auditioned program or department, you will be notified of next steps via email.

It does not cost anything to apply or audition for any AFA program. No tuition is due until a tuition statement is received (following a student’s admission into a program).

Yes! Any applicant may apply for assistance with tuition. In the 2022-23 season, 91% of AFA students received assistance. AFA’s Play It Forward Fund ensures that financial hardship will never be a barrier between an aspiring young musician and the experiences that will shape their future. Parents/guardians are encouraged to fill out the tuition assistance application while applying for their program. Please visit the Play It Forward Fund page for detailed information.

AFA financial aid ranges in amounts from 10-90% of total tuition costs (scholarships and assistance do not apply to the $35 enrollment fee for all programs).

AFA does not offer housing for out-of-town students during any program. However, if a student from outside the area has their own housing and transportation arrangements, they may apply for an AFA program (but are not eligible for tuition assistance).

All AFA student performances are FREE and open to the public, with no ticket necessary. For other special events, please visit that event’s page or call 713-522-9699.

Not at this time.

Faculty biographies for each program can be found on our Staff and Faculty page. AFA’s faculty artists are made up of the area’s most seasoned and highly-regarded music educators, renowned performers, and guest clinicians and conductors from around the country. Many of them have been a part of AFA for several years, and some are even AFA alumni!

Yes! AFA is a 501(c)(3) organization and your donation is tax deductible to the full extent of the law.

AFA does occasionally accept instrument or equipment donations, contact us to find out if your donation could be used.

If you are a college-aged alum of an AFA program, be sure to check out our Alumni page for information about the Alumni Intern program. AFA typically hires faculty artists through an internal process, but professional musicians and educators are welcome to submit resumes to music@afatexas.org.

While AFA does not have an ongoing volunteer program, there are times when volunteers are needed. Contact us for more information.