About Bay Area Youth Winds

Our Mission

The mission of Bay Area Youth Winds is to challenge and supplement the quality instruction students receive from their local, school-enrolled music programs and private lesson instructors. 

Our Vision

As an educational outreach component of the Florida Wind Band organization, our vision is to be the premier youth wind band organization in the Tampa Bay Area while inspiring a lifelong support and love for wind band music in young students. 

About Us

In 2011, Dr. McCutchen and the Florida Wind Band, Inc. founded Bay Area Youth (BAY) Winds as Tampa Bay’s premier outlet for middle and high school students to receive exceptional performance opportunities for intermediate and advanced musicians. Student participants come from all over the Tampa Bay Area including Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, and Hernando counties. Students in BAY Winds experience quality training and instruction from well decorated professional musicians and educators. The BAY Winds organization, in totality, offers four ensemble opportunities each year. 

Each spring, the BAY Winds Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Winds rehearse and perform a joint concert with the Florida Wind Band at the USF School of Music Mainstage Concert Hall. 

During the summer months, Summer Breeze invites eligible BAY Winds students as well as alumni to return in a joint patriotic concert with the Florida Wind Band at Carrollwood Village Park. 

In the fall, Autumn Winds offers an exceptional educational opportunity for students in middle school and high school. This ensemble performs a joint concert with the Florida Wind Band at the USF School of Music Mainstage Concert Hall.