Jazz Empowers

While the Charter School Residency Program targets schools without a jazz program, our Band Director Support Program partners with band directors at underserved schools with existing jazz programs. Jazz Empowers provides these programs with financial support for instruments, sheet music, and other crucial resources to bolster their program. Numerous schools served through this program have competed and won awards at prestigious high school music festivals and competitions.For the 24-25 school year, Jazz Empowers supported band directors with jazz programs at 12 underserved schools serving 300 students. In this program Jazz Empowers used funds to buy instruments, sheet music and other crucial resources for Title 1 jazz programs. Jazz Empowers also supported the school band directors with professional development and administrative tasks.

Our Jazz Band Director Cohort provides free and on-demand resources to band directors across the country. Any band director can get access to monthly live professional development sessions on Zoom, and valuable jazz education tools they can use in their bandroom to teach jazz more effectively and bring their program to the next level.For the 24-25 school year, Jazz Empowers provided online resources and professional development to 250 band directors at underserved schools across the country. These schools served a combined 5,125 students. Jazz Empowers created monthly training sessions for these instructors, and uploaded valuable resources to a free membership website for cohort members.

The Jazz Empowers student advisory council is a highly selective committee of dedicated jazz students from across the country. During the 24-25 school year, the council met on a monthly basis to build community with other jazz students, become better musicians, and provide feedback on how jazz is taught in schools. 8 students participated in the student council. Students in the council received a $500 stipend used to further their education.