Writers Revealed For Johnny Mercer Foundation’s Songwriting Intensive in Maine

The Johnny Mercer Foundation has announced the writers selected for their second annual Songwriting Intensive, part of the New England Music Camp at Snow Pond Center for the Arts. Master teachers, award-winning songwriters Anna K Jacobs and Adam Gwon, will join the Intensive’s Artistic Director Kaitlin Hopkins for JMF’s program to be held at Snow Pond’s idyllic lakeside campus in Sidney, Maine, Aug. 4-10, 2025. 

The 10 young songwriters selected for this one-of-a-kind songwriting intensive are: Julia Almendra, Saumya Anand, Kyler Huyse, Ryan Jacobs, Oliviana Marie, Ana Paula Monterrubio, Jerard Mosley II, Symone Munoz, Hailey M Truong, and Mitchell Wiley. This is the second year for the Songwriting Intensive and is free for all participants to attend.

Joining as a master teacher is Anna K Jacobs, a Jonathan Larson and Billie Burke Ziegfeld Award-winning composer, lyricist and book writer who wrote the music and co-wrote the book for TEETH, recently seen Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons and New World Stages. Jacobs will work alongside Gwon, an award-winning composer/lyricist whose musicals have been produced on six continents and in more than half a dozen languages, including All The World’s a Stage that recently opened at the Keen Company.

“JMF is once again excited to partner with Snow Pond,” said JMF Vice President Jonathan Brielle. “We are committed to creating opportunities for young songwriters and what a gift to do it in this idyllic setting!” 

Kaitlin Hopkins, artistic director of the program, offered, “It is a game changer for these young artists to learn, grow, collaborate, and ultimately for their unique voices to inform the landscape of contemporary and musical theater songwriting.”

The 10 participants will study and explore the fundamentals of contemporary and musical theater songwriting, developing the skills and tools necessary to pursue a career as professional songwriters. This free 7-day Songwriting Intensive will provide students a unique learning experience through classes, collaborative exercises and professional mentorship.

The JMF Songwriting Intensive curriculum will be developed by Jacobs, Gwon and Hopkins to fit the specific needs and distinctive musical voice of each applicant and will include tutorials, master classes, workshops, collaborative writing time, as well as salon-style presentations. Tailoring the curriculum to the individual artists is one of the unique aspects that differentiates this new JMF Songwriting Intensive from other programs. 

After the success of last year’s program, a benefit concert was held in December 2024 at the Green Room 42 in New York City to highlight the inaugural writers and to offer an opportunity for supporters to donate to the 2025 program, which is free to the participants. If you missed the concert and would like to donate, please visit www.johnnymercer.org.