California Bluegrass Association
To promote, encourage, foster and cultivate the preservation, appreciation, understanding, enjoyment, support and performance of bluegrass, old-time, gospel, and traditional instrumental and vocal music in California.
About California Bluegrass Association
The California Bluegrass Association (CBA) is a long-established California nonprofit (founded in the mid-1970s) that organizes concerts, camps, youth programs and the annual Father’s Day Bluegrass Festival in Grass Valley. The association operates as an all-volunteer, donor-facing 501(c)(3) organization (EIN 51-0204434) with a statewide membership and a regular printed and digital newsletter, the Bluegrass Breakdown. CBA runs a broad set of educational and community programs including Kids on Bluegrass, the CBA Youth Academy, summer music camps, instrument lending and scholarship programs, and emergency relief for professional bluegrass artists through the BEAR Fund. In recent years the organization has continued in-person festivals and camps (including the 2024 and 2025 Father’s Day events) and has sustained its monthly Bluegrass Breakdown publication and statewide programming.
Notable achievements
50th Father’s Day Bluegrass Festival (2025)
CBA produced the milestone 50th annual Father’s Day Bluegrass Festival in Grass Valley, continuing a multi-decade tradition of one of the West Coast’s largest curated bluegrass gatherings.
Kids on Bluegrass / Youth programming
CBA’s Kids on Bluegrass, Youth Academy and summer music camps have provided multi-day instrumental instruction and performance opportunities for thousands of young people across California, serving as a pipeline into the wider bluegrass community.
Bluegrass Breakdown newsletter (continuous since 1975)
The association publishes the monthly Bluegrass Breakdown—printed and digital—maintaining an archival record and regular communications channel for members and the broader bluegrass community for decades.
At a glance
- Total assets
- $406K
- Annual revenue
- $856K
- Tax status
- 501(c)(3)Public charity
- EIN
- 51-0204434
- Location
- San Francisco, CA
- Website
- californiabluegrass.org
- On Mahalo since
- April 2026
Financial figures from the IRS Business Master File, the IRS’s registry of tax-exempt organizations.
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