Doris Duke Grant Helps Ohio Jazz
Posted 11/20/2009

The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) has awarded a $200,000 grant to the Jazz Arts Group of Columbus, Ohio, to create a national model for building jazz and music audiences, entitled the Jazz Audiences Initiative.

The 21-month project, which runs Nov. 1, 2009, through July 31, 2011, will enable the Jazz Arts Group to research and test new strategies for overcoming barriers to jazz participation and for building jazz audiences through more targeted marketing and programming efforts. The initiative will tackle fundamental questions about how and why people engage with jazz. Jazz artists and presenters nationwide will learn new ideas for building audiences and infusing the art form with new energy.

"The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation is delighted to support this project," said Ben Cameron, Program Director for the Arts at DDCF. "The quality and expertise of the participants are exceptional, and the potential for impact on the entire jazz field is enormous. We look forward to following this project as it moves forward."

"We are incredibly honored to be a recipient of DDCF funding and see this as a significant opportunity to provide insight into how contemporary audiences are attracted to the arts, and specifically to the creative forms such as jazz," said Robert Breithaupt, Executive Director of the Jazz Arts Group. "Our intent is to share the outcomes of this research with presenters and artists so they may shape their products with a goal to expand audiences."

For more info go to jazzartsgroup.org