Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation received a total of 46 Jazz.NEXT applications requesting over $2.5 million in support.
$462,350 Awarded to Support Jazz Through the Use of Technology
Baltimore, MD—Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation has announced the second round of grants for the Jazz.NEXT program. Jazz.NEXT is a national jazz initiative focused on how innovative approaches incorporating technology can profoundly influence the operating practice of jazz artists and organizations in relation to developing audiences; communicating with the public; marketing, distributing, and selling the work of jazz artists; and building a more robust jazz infrastructure better positioned to meet current and future challenges. The Jazz.NEXT program is made possible through a $1 million grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. An additional grant of $210,800 was awarded to provide general operating support to grantee organizations.
Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation received a total of 46 Jazz.NEXT applications requesting over $2.5 million in support. The applications were submitted by individual artists, jazz presenters and festivals, local arts councils, museums, public radio stations, service organizations, and university-based centers for jazz studies, among others. All regions of the United States were represented in the applicant pool with applications from 19 different states and jurisdictions.
Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation convened the following six experienced arts professionals to review the applications:
- Greg Carroll, Chief Executive Officer, American Jazz Museum, Kansas City, MO
- Peter Gordon, Chief Executive Officer, Thirsty Ear Recordings, Norwalk, CT
- Jason Olaine, Programming Director, Yoshis Nightclub, San Francisco, CA
- Rainbow Robert, Executive Director, Jazz Festivals Canada, Vancouver, Canada
- Molly Sheridan, Program Director, American Music Center, Baltimore, MD
- Jacob Yarrow, Programming Director, Hancher Auditorium, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
The following organizations/individuals received grants:
Berklee College of Music, Boston, MA
Grant: $68,600
Founded in 1945, Berklee College of Music is one of the leading institutions for the study of contemporary music in the United States. Berklee's annual High School Jazz Festival attracts more than 3,000 students and 200 big bands, combos, and vocal ensembles, primarily from the New England states, for performance and competition showcases, and education clinics. The college hopes to include more high schools from throughout the United States and will utilize new online technologies to extend the reach of this single annual event to a year-round, interactive, web-based, “cyber association" of high school jazz instructors and students. Jazz.NEXT support will enable the development of a new open-source interactive website featuring online access to student/faculty rehearsal clinics, performance and instructional webcasts and artist/instructor profiles, and streaming of Festival performances, among other content.
Dave Douglas, Croton on Hudson, NY
Grant: $74,750
Dave Douglas is widely recognized as one of the most prolific and original jazz trumpeters and composers of his generation, as well as one of the few jazz artists at the forefront of utilizing technology. His own record label, Greenleaf Music, and website have created innovative and groundbreaking modes of distribution, promotion and marketing rare within the jazz industry. Douglas will use support to develop four new platforms to include stand-alone applications for mobile devices; revamping Greenleafmusic.com to allow for greater intuitive information management; integration of social media sites to facilitate greater communication between artists and fans; and creating an open-source database to allow other artists to utilize these same technologies.
Jazz Journalists Association, New York, NY
Grant: $38,200
Founded in 1986, the Jazz Journalists Association is an international professional organization of writers, broadcasters, photographers and new media producers primarily focused on jazz reporting. Established and emerging jazz journalists are challenged by the demise of traditional print and broadcast formats and struggling to adapt to new digital technology. The Jazz Journalists Association will solicit 30 veteran and emerging jazz journalists and equip them with basic training in the use of new, inexpensive, Web-ready pocket-video camera technology. Jazz.NEXT support will enable the purchase and distribution of cameras, training workshops on video journalism techniques, and production of up to 150 video clips on jazz related events and individuals for utilization on various jazz websites, blogs and other digital platforms. Each participant will post five video submissions over a six-month period, creating a viral jazz campaign that will be promoted through online publicity and marketing, as well as targeted advertising in traditional print outlets.
Manchester Craftsmen's Guild, Pittsburgh, PA
Grant: $93,600
The Manchester Craftsmen's Guild is a multidisciplinary arts and learning center, which since 1987 has been of the country's leading jazz presenting organization noted for its MCG Jazz program's concert and recording series. Jazz.NEXT support will enable the organization to continue the design and implementation of the next two phases of an interactive national jazz website that seeks to become a living repository of information on jazz presenters and engagements across the United States. The Jazz Information Commons will capture and aggregate myriad information and media about jazz presenters and performances such as programming calendars, artist personnel and biographies, instrumentation, set lists, venue descriptions, ticketing, routing, social media links and recorded audio and video. A consumer portal will connect potential jazz consumers to opportunities for purchasing concert tickets, subscriptions to live performance streams via all web platforms, artists' product, and access to jazz education content. The site will also utilize music recommendation technology to assist consumers in discovering new artists.
National Federation of Community Broadcasters, Oakland, CA
Grant: $93,600
National Federation of Community Broadcasters ("NFCB") is a national alliance of noncommercial, educational, and public radio stations; producers; and related organizations committed to local, diverse, and mission-driven public service radio. With Jazz.NEXT support, NFCB will design a national metadata library for jazz stations, entitled “Jazz InfoVault." Metadata is defined as data about data, and, for jazz radio, that information represents crucial historical content, which currently is diffuse and often inaccessible. NFCB will consolidate existing noncommercial efforts, standardize collection practices, and develop a prototype database to be tested on up to two jazz stations. Once populated the national metadata library will serve as a digital jazz encyclopedia for use by radio stations across the United States that program jazz.
Symphony Space, New York, NY
Grant: $93,600
Symphony Space is a multidisciplinary presenting organization noted for its film, literary and performing arts programming, including the Selected Shorts, Symphony Space Live, and Wall-to-Wall series. The organization is currently poised to release more than 100 recordings of live performances, including jazz. Through Jazz.NEXT support, Symphony Space will create a smart phone application, called The Symph App, configured to stream jazz performances on Apple's iPod and iPad products as well as Google's Android and Google TV. The application will be open-coded and distributed free to the jazz community for use by other artists and venues. The organization is committed to streaming the content, rather than allowing for downloads, so that artists are given greater control over the use of their work. The SymphApp will be launched in spring 2011 when at least 34 jazz events and discussions will be made available.
About Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation
Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation supports the richness and diversity of the region's arts resources and promotes wider access to the art and artists of the region, nation and world. The region includes nine states and jurisdictions that are closely related by geography or culture: District of Columbia, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Virginia, and West Virginia.
About the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
The mission of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation is to improve the quality of peoples lives through grants supporting the performing arts, environmental conservation, medical research and the prevention of child maltreatment, and through preservation of the cultural and environmental legacy of Doris Dukes properties.
