Reunion welcomes academy alumni


Children’s Music Academy of Westlake Village will hold the inaugural reunion for alumni of the Ventura County Junior Music and Children’s Music academies from 10 a.m. to noon Sat., August 18 at Berniece Bennett Park, 31800 Village Center Road, Westlake Village.

Thousands of graduates and dozens of current and former teachers have been invited to attend.

Junior Music Academy was founded by the late Carole Cutler Rubottom in 1967 as an alternative to private piano lessons.

The first program of its kind in Ventura county, JMA offered group lessons with individual Yamaha organs for children ages 4 to 7.

The first studio was in downtown Ventura. Rubottom soon opened a second studio in Thousand Oaks.

Rubottom retired in 2006. Her first teacher, Jan Cross, who had moved to Colorado and started Children’s Music Academy, bought Rubottom’s two studios.

Cross moved the Thousand Oaks studio to the current location in Westlake Village.

In August, 2017 veteran JMA/CMA teacher Laura Young bought the Ventura and Westlake Village studios.

Attendees can make a reservation at Eventbrite.com or text (805) 216-0943.