Jazz Arts Project to receive $15k grant from the National Endowment for the Arts

June 28, 2023

(RED BANK)—The non profit organization Jazz arts Project has been approved for a $15,000 "Grants for Arts Projects" award from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) for 2023. The award will support the organization's iconic project “Summer of Jazz”, presenting world-class jazz music over an eight-week long festival through performances at local venues and parks, while engaging and enriching area youth in music education programs. Jazz Arts Project, founded in 2006, is among 1,130 Organizations across the country, totaling more than $31 million, that were selected during this second round of Grants for Arts Projects fiscal year 2023 funding. This is the first year that Jazz Arts has been awarded the NEA grant and we are proud and grateful to be recognized among our arts & Cultural non profit peers.

Red Bank, NJ is the town that birthed jazz great William Count Basie.  It is only fitting that a festival is presented around the music that is America's best gift to the world.  For this historic yet vibrant, living artform, Jazz Arts present contemporary jazz artists directly into the community while offering transformative, life changing educational opportunities to area youth.  The events take place in and around Red Bank, NJ in two different parks (Riverside Gardens Park & West Side Johnny Jazz Park) and two different theater spaces (Two River Theater and Monmouth Conservatory). We expect to attract more than 10,000 people during this summer long fest. The west side of Red Bank, where one of the significant series of free concerts will take place, is a vibrant and diverse community where the residents will enjoy music in a park setting easily accessed by all.

The “Summer of Jazz” includes programming for eight weeks in Red Bank designed to present and honor jazz through strategic partnerships with local organizations such as the T. Thomas Fortune Cultural Center, the Count Basie Center for the Arts and Two River Theater. The collection of events may include films and other performance venues. Utilizing the strengths of our programs, we will present an entire summer dedicated to jazz, beginning in July and ending the final week of August, with a special celebration on August 20, the birthdate of Jazz great Count Basie. Virtually every night of the week for 8 weeks people will be able to find great jazz right in their own neighborhood without having to travel and pay the high prices charged in the big cities. This may just be the longest jazz festival in the world.  Not the longest running but the sheer number of consecutive days and weeks  of great jazz music will be one for the history books.

“The National Endowment for the Arts is pleased to support a wide range of projects, including "A Summer of Jazz", demonstrating the many ways the arts enrich our lives and contribute to healthy and thriving communities,” said NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD. “These organizations play an important role in advancing the creative vitality of our nation and helping to ensure that all people can benefit from arts, culture, and design.”

For more information on other projects included in the NEA grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.