Jazz Foundation of America Inc

Programs

1. The Jazz Legacies Fellowship is a program that will support 50 seasoned and accomplished jazz artists aged 62 years and older over a five-year period from 2024 -2029. The fellowship honors each recipient with a lifetime achievement award and an unrestricted grant of $100,000. Recipients will also be provided with resources for tailored professional and personal support, including recording and performance opportunities, production assistance, legal and financial counsel and more.

   $2,281,407 spent
   46% of program spending

2. The Gig Fund /Provide Jazz and Blues Music Free to the Public. The Gig Fund produces free, pop-up performances for underserved audiences. The shows take place in public spaces as opposed to traditional and costly venues, and engage new audiences who would not otherwise have the chance to hear these accomplished players. Our dream is for this program to return us to the days when a band would just start playing during lunch hour or after-work, and people would gather to listen, dance, and sing, and there would be this shared experience, reminding us that We Are All In This Together. In 2024 the JFA provide 530 work opportunities for musicians through the Gig Fund Program.

   $1,256,960 spent
   25% of program spending

3. Musicians' Emergency Fund/Housing and Emergency Assistance: Preventing homelessness and evictions for musicians in need and assisting with rent, mortgages, transportation, utilities and other essential living expenses. Most musicians have no savings, they rarely get paid properly, and they live gig to gig. For example, if someone cant work because theyve had an accident and are now behind in their rent, we pay their rent and/or utilities to keep them from eviction. We also make sure there is enough food on the table and] even go to the hospital with them for treatment if they are alone. In other crisis situations, we are needed to repair or replace instruments so that musicians can keep working. Whatever the situation calls for, we address the need through compassion and counseling from our social work team. JFA looks at the whole person and sees the long- and short-term challenges. This can include making home visits to an elderly person who is alone and even connecting them with younger musicians they can mentor who check in and help care for them. We also make calls after business hours to let them know they are not forgotten. Sometimes we uncover the root of someones…

   $1,101,020 spent
   22% of program spending

4. Disaster Relief: Direct support for the musician community following catastrophic events. From Hurricane Katrina to Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria, and Ida our team is on the ground as soon as possible and to help with relief and recovery. Our social workers and case managers find out first-hand what needs to be replaced and repaired. We go home to home and offer emotional support and provide basic necessities like food, emergency supplies, and clothes for children. We replace instruments and equipment, help with car repairs, and enlist professionals to decontaminate houses to ensure a families safety. Musicians are already vulnerable before disaster strikes. They live paycheck to paycheck and things critical to their livelihood, like instruments and studio equipment, are kept at home. One flood can derail a lifetime of work, leaving great artists with nowhere to turn. This relief effort includes creating community concerts in places where work opportunities are limited for musicians due to disasters. These concerts also provide a healing experience for audiences who have experienced shared shock, loss, and trauma. During the pandemic, JFA's COVID-19 Musicians' Emergency Fund has…

   $314,567 spent
   6% of program spending

5. Jazz Healer Award - The award will be award periodically at the discretion of the Board of Directors. It is intended to honor and individual who has displayed uncommon efforts over the course of their career to heal the jazz community through dedicated service to musician.

   $39,285 spent
   1% of program spending

6. Jazz and Blues in the Schools/Creating Employment: Dignified work that keeps the music alive. Most often, the best way to help blues, jazz, and roots musicians in crisis is to keep them working. Musicians who used to play six nights a week now have few or no options. The Jazz and Blues in the Schools program continues to be a vital source of income and optimism for our legendary elders. JITS serves multiple purposes: 1) providing dignified work for artists to continue doing what they love most; 2) presenting live music to underserved audiences at a variety of community venues and creating access to enrichment and entertainment; and preserving the legacy of jazz and blues through concerts by veteran audiences reaching new listeners. Many of the thousands of young attending their concerts have never heard live music. By sharing this music at schools that otherwise have limited access to arts and enrichment, we can help to build future audiences. In a digital world, this interaction provides the opportunity to learn how music is actually made. Through Jazz and Blues in the Schools, musicians feel alive with purpose, sharing their life stories with hundreds of new fans and passing on…

7. Pro Bono Services: Referrals for medical, legal, and other assistance. Since 1994, JFA has provided a pro bono network for uninsured musicians in crisis due to health issues. Dizzy Gillespie was a patient at Englewood Hospital in New Jersey many times before his passing in early 1993 from pancreatic cancer. Dizzy expressed two wishes to his family in his last days: to support the greatest passion in his lifejazz and jazz musiciansand to have a memorial in his name at his hospital, Englewood Hospital and Medical Center. The Dizzy Gillespie Memorial Fund helps underwrite the costs of hospitalization, diagnostic tests, and a full range of surgical and medical care for jazz musicians who are uninsured and without the ability to pay. Additionally, we have established a network of dentists and oral surgeons who either donate their services completely free or at deeply discounted rates. Pro bono legal services at the JFA include referrals to volunteer lawyers who provide assistance with housing, contract, royalty, estate, and other issues. JFA also works with other relief organizations and musicians' assistance organizations to secure additional and in-kind support for JFA clients.

The 7 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,993,239.