San Jose Jazz

San Jose Jazz produces festivals and concerts, educational programs, and artist development opportunities. Best known for its annual summer festival, San Jose Jazz also presents concerts throughout Santa Clara County that preserve and advance the jazz tradition, and support the next generation of jazz artists. Its youth programs serve over 1,000 students annually, and its local festivals and concerts attract roughly 80,000 listeners each year. Support for its jazz artist programs — which include the New Works Fest, Break Room concerts, and Boom Box Truck concerts — advances the Performing Arts Program’s Artists strategy by ensuring jazz artists from the region have resources and opportunities that are relevant to their needs and aspirations.

San Jose Jazz presents world-class jazz performances and educational programs for more than 80,000 people each year. Best known for its three-day summer festival, San Jose Jazz also presents a winter jazz festival; weekly concerts; and pop-up performances at parks, markets, and fairs throughout Santa Clara County. In addition, the organization provides sequential music instruction to more than 1,200 students from the second grade through high school, and provides intensive workshops and performance opportunities through summer camps, master classes, and an audition-based band. Support for San Jose Jazz advances the Performing Arts Program’s Communities strategy.

San Jose Jazz Society (SJJS) was founded in 1986 by a local group of jazz enthusiasts. In 1990, SJJS presented the first San Jose Jazz Festival, which has since grown to become the largest free summer jazz festival in the world offering free performances at public parks, churches, hotels, clubs and San Jose performance centers. With over 80,000 attendees each summer San Jose Jazz provides a tremendous opportunity for local jazz musicians to reach new audiences, and for large-scale community access to, and participation in, the arts. SJJS also runs a number of educational programs from one-off in school concerts to the multiple visits to the same classroom deepening understanding on the part of kids (and their teachers) of music theory. Through a combination of programs including an All Star band, a summer camp and in-school programs, San Jose Jazz reaches 4,000 children in its education and enrichment activities. SJJS experienced severe organizational upheaval – financially, administratively, and in board leadership – during the previous grant period but under the direction of their new E.D., and a remade board the organization has made major strives to reduce its debt, win back corporate sponsors and, with ongoing Hewlett Foundation support, stands a very good chance of improving its organizational capacity to deliver educational programs and low, or no-cost access to world class jazz to the San Jose community.