High School Nation, the country’s largest secondary school touring music festival, will come to Hanford Joint Union High School District next week with two goals in mind: Donating funds to the school’s music and arts program and providing an entertaining and engaging festival for local students.
Students from Hanford High, Hanford West, and Sierra Pacific will attend the High School Nation event Monday, May 8 at the Jacob L. Neighbor Bowl during the afternoon of the school day.
During the Festival Tour, High School Nation takes over football stadiums on high school campuses and presents a two-hour concert and events that will celebrate the arts in public schools. In addition to music programs, the Festival supports journalism, film, fine and performing arts, fashion, photography, and stage production.
The 2017 Festival Tour features platinum selling rock band Plain White T’s.
“We’re stoked to be headlining the High School Nation 2017 spring tour,” said band member Tom Higgenson. "We love the idea of playing our music and at the same time being able to help High School Nation donate to public school music programs. We believe it is a very important time to be assisting music programs as much as possible.”
The band originally formed in 1997 by high school friends Higgenson and Dave Tirio.
The tours also feature a number of young, emerging performers brought in by record labels that see the benefits in being a part of this movement. RCA records, Capital, Warner Bros. records, and DreamWorks, are among the half dozen labels that have participated in the success of the Festival Tours.
“At the center of our Festivals are performances by some of the music industry’s hottest young rising stars,” Cantillon adds. “It’s one of the only opportunities for record labels to entertain, engage, and give back.”
High School Nation is committed to promoting and helping school music and arts programs and will top the $2 million mark in donations this year during its 2017 60-city Festival Tour. Corporate support for the Festivals is being provided by over a dozen companies and as part of the Festival, students will visit interactive zones to interact with products and educational programs.
