Gold Coast Jazz to Host Monthly Jazz Jams

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Gold Coast Jazz to Host Monthly Jazz Jams with a Grant from the John S. and James L. Knight FoundationFort Lauderdale, FL - The Gold Coast Jazz Society is honored to announce the award of an $18,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation for the Society’s educational project, First Friday Jazz Jams. The Gold Coast Jazz Society was one of only 31 awardees of the Knight Foundation Arts Partnership grant initiative and one of three organization awarded grants from Broward County. Grant award winners were publicly announced at a special reception held on Dec. 1 at the Miami Art Museum in Miami, Florida.

The $18,000 matching grant from the Knight Foundation will assist Gold Coast Jazz in the first two years of the new educational project, First Friday Jazz Jams. This project, a monthly live jazz jam session to be held at ArtServe in Ft. Lauderdale, will provide students of all ages a chance to perform for free with veteran professional jazz musicians. A live professional backline will be provided for each First Friday Jazz Jam. The “Jams” will be open to students from area middle schools, high schools, colleges, universities as well as to the general public. “This intergenerational community event will provide parents, teachers, students and the public a chance to witness the development of local young jazz talent,” said Pam Dearden, Executive Director of the Gold Coast Jazz Society. “We are indeed privileged to be among the very few to be awarded a grant by this prestigious foundation.” Videos of the other 2008 winners of the Knight Foundation Arts Partnership can be viewed at www.KnightArts.org .

Knight Foundation is the presenting sponsor for the First Friday Jazz Jams project. The Knight Foundation Arts Partnership is a five-year, $40 million initiative to transform the South Florida arts. The effort includes endowment grants to leading arts institutions, plus a community-wide contest to fund the best arts ideas. Other sponsors for the First Friday Jazz Jams project include the HI Foundation, Barbara Cooper, the Florida Marlins Community Foundation, Publix Super Market Charities, DeMeo Young McGrath – Certified Public Accountants and Consultants and ArtServe.

The kick-off event for the First Friday Jazz Jams program will occur on Friday, January 9, 2009 from 7:00pm – 10:00pm at ArtServe, 1350 E. Sunrise Blvd. Ft. Lauderdale. Admission is free and open to the public. The remaining the First Friday Jazz Jams will occur on Feb. 6, March 6, April 3, May 1 and June 5.

The Gold Coast Jazz Society is a not-for-profit organization that is dedicated to the preservation and promotion of jazz music through a mainstage concert series, free community concerts, jazz education programs, a jazz scholarship program and other events. For more information call the Gold Coast Jazz Society office at 954-524-0805 or visit the Gold Coast Jazz website at www.goldcoastjazz.org.

Funding for the Gold Coast Jazz Society is provided in part by the Broward County Board of County Commissioners as recommended by the Broward Cultural Council, and by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts and Funding Arts Broward.

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About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes excellence in journalism worldwide and invests in the vitality of the U.S. communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. The Knight Foundation focuses on projects with the potential to create transformational change. For more information, visit www.knightfoundation.org.


Pam Dearden
Executive Director
Gold Coast Jazz Society
1350 E. Sunrise Blvd.
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33304
954-524-0805 954-525-7880 (FAX)
www.goldcoastjazz.org
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