THE JAZZ DISCOVERY PROGRAM
Lifelong learners. Lifelong listeners. Lifelong advocates. Jazz Discovery.
Founded with the intention of bringing school kids from all backgrounds to Jazz Standard jazz club in NYC, The Jazz Discovery Program has been bringing students and their school communities to experience live jazz for over twenty years. The closure of our club slowed us down but did not stop us, as we quickly began to perform outreach concerts in schools across the boroughs. These workshops are designed to be fun, educational, and interactive for school children of a wide age range and diverse locales. We believe that cultivating a vibrant and passionate audience is just as important as supporting talented and driven musicians.
Additionally, JDP reaches out to cultural centers such as Visions, a midtown residence for the visually impaired and creates special programs such as our music mentoring collaborations with our Jazz Standard Youth Orchestra and our celebrating Women in Jazz by bringing live performances directly to schools during Women’s History Month. We aim to bring live jazz to more schools each year and to serve underprivileged communities that might not otherwise have the opportunity for high quality enrichment activities.
Jazz is for everyone. Yet even in New York City, there are some students that have not had the opportunity to experience live jazz performed by exceptional musicians. Many schools, teachers and administrators face the challenges of a lack of funding for arts enrichment events and our Jazz Discovery Program is one way we create positive change and share a great American music tradition with the next generation. JDP allows students to learn about the cultural traditions of jazz and hear some of the most incredible players and composers in the world, hearing songs they may have never heard before. Jazz Discovery lets students see a diverse group of talented musicians performing for them to ignite the imagination, uplift the spirit, express emotions in a healthy way to inspire students to play an instrument or listen to more jazz in their lives and share these discoveries with their families and friends.