The Mariachi Academy of Connecticut is a public program providing mariachi education to all ages throughout the state of Connecticut.  Within the Spanish Community of Wallingford, there is a music school. The Escuela Guadalupana de Música was founded in Wallingford, CT in 2008 by Evangeline Mendoza Bourgeois. In 2010, the school was invited to come under the auspices of the Spanish Community of Wallingford. It has grown to its maximum capacity of fifty students.

The Escuela Guadalupana de Música provides training in music to children aged 7 to 17. The children receive basic music instruction and theory by singing songs in Spanish and learning to play musical instruments required for mariachi music. There are currently 52 registered students. The seven-year-olds begin by singing traditional Mexican folk music and learning basic rhythm. At age 8 the children choose one of five instruments to study: guitar, violin, trumpet, vihuela, or guitarrón.

The academy has expanded to provide classes in Bridgeport and Hartford. Alejandro Virula of the Academy is teaching guitarron to a student in the Southern New England Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program, Year 19, 2016-2017