The Mellon Foundation Launches $35 Million Jazz Initiative

The initiative will provide new Jazz Legacies Fellowships worth $100,00, as well as funding key jazz organizations

The Mellon Foundation has announced that creation of a new $35 million initiative — which will support cultural preservation of jazz and champion the legacy of its foremost artists, all while strengthening the broader jazz ecosystem.

A central component of the initiative is the Jazz Legacies Fellowship, which is endowed to the tune of $15 million in partnership with the Jazz Foundation of America. The inaugural group of 20 Fellows, who have recently been announced, represent some of the finest jazz players working today — and over the next four years, they will be joined by 30 more artists.

The Fellowships will be granted to highly established artists aged 62 and older, with each Fellow receiving a lifetime achievement award and a grant of $100,000. They will also receive resources for tailored professional and personal support, including master class and performance opportunities, production assistance, legal and financial counsel, and more.

Furthermore, the initiative is also granting $4m in funding to eight different organizations that it sees as central to jazz culture in America. These include the 369th Experience, Arts for Art, Afro Latin Jazz Alliance/Belongo, DC Jazz Festival, the Ellis Marsalis Center, JazzMobile, the Philadelphia Clef Club, and the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival.

You can read the full list of new Fellows on the Mellon Foundation's website.

"Jazz is a quintessentially American art form, central to our vast and varied American culture, and this initiative rightly and broadly honors the work of those who continue to drive the evolution of jazz while also safeguarding its histories," said Elizabeth Alexander, President of the Mellon Foundation. "We at Mellon are proud to join JFA in recognizing the artists, scholars, and community coalitions that continue to amplify our understanding and appreciation of this dynamic musical form and the deep generational knowledge that will accumulate from it long into the future."

"My peers and I rely on the artistic bravery of our mentors — these are the artists that churned a vibrant language with the knowledge that it was useful for not only society, but also for the soul," said pianist and Jazz Legacies Fellowship artistic advisor Jason Moran. "This initial cohort of musicians are the gardeners, and the work of Mellon and JFA, the bulbs that — along with water, soil and sun — allow us to cherish their work from the past and into the future."