Mission

History and Programs

History Mission Executive Director CNY Jazz Orchestra Music Director

Mission and Purpose of the Central New York Jazz Arts Foundation, Inc.

"The CNY Jazz Arts Foundation enriches our community by sustaining and presenting the art form of American Jazz"

 GOALS:

Our broader goals are to present jazz as an art form using the finest local, regional and national artists available.Jazz, and our efforts to promote it, are by nature a uniquely American multicultural endeavor: as Dizzy Gillespie said, “No America – no jazz”. By definition and by design, we continually seek to artistically communicate across cultural barriers in every way possible.

We seek to broaden the existing audience for our art and to train future generations of artists and audiences so that America’s only indigenous art form does not die. Our efforts differ from those of symphony orchestras and opera companies only in the style of music that we present. We feel strongly that jazz is as worthy of representation in America as is European art music.

Other regional not-for-profit jazz orchestras and presenting organizations have recently achieved rapid growth and recognition vital to our quality of life; i.e., the Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Dallas, Seattle, Chicago and Smithsonian Jazz Orchestras, and others steadily being created in cities nationwide. We are determined to fulfill this mission for the citizens of Upstate New York.