Derek E. Gordon
09/01/2005
Eight years ago, Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC) debuted at New York’s fine arts Mecca. Today the world’s largest arts program dedicated to jazz has a new, permanent home. Last October, JALC celebrated the grand opening of its space on Broadway at 60th Street in the new Time Warner Center. The occasion was as significant to the growth of a novel nonprofit arts model as it was to the continuity of our original American art form.
Together with its predecessor, the blues, jazz was one of the first musical genres to develop in the United States.
Its rich musical tradition—names like Armstrong, Ellington, Goodman
and Holiday are legendary—and proclivity toward innovation make jazz the
quintessential American music. But unlike other forms, such as opera, that
flourished in America as they had in Europe through institutionalization and a
strong philanthropic tradition, jazz emerged organically and grew in the
counterculture; there was no infrastructure to support its development. Although
it continued to attract loyal fans, by the 1980s mainstream art and media
critics were declaring jazz dead.Musicians, jazz lovers and arts administrators who understood the history and relevance of the genre appealed to Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts to incorporate jazz into its programming. In 1987, to fill halls that stood empty during the summer, Lincoln Center took a chance on the idea. Less than a decade later, what began as a summer concert series became the 12th constituent of Lincoln Center. In 2004 the House of Swing—as artistic director and guiding visionary Wynton Marsalis calls JALC’s new home—took its place among America’s great cultural institutions.
To some, creating a sustaining infrastructure for jazz seemed like a juxtaposition of two opposing forces—improvisation versus establishment. Some feared that jazz, a virtually indescribable art form (Louis Armstrong’s summation: “Man, if you gotta ask, you’ll never know”) would be smothered by an enduring institution. Instead, it flourished.
Fueled by the creative rigor of Marsalis and the
dedication of its board and staff, JALC’s original riff of programs has expanded
to reach millions of people around the world. By raising $131 million in six
years toward the purchase and development of prime real estate in Midtown
Manhattan (JALC is less than $1 million shy of owning the space) and increasing
its annual operating budget to more than $30 million, JALC has built an
infrastructure to honor and elevate an art form. In the process, it has created
an innovative model for nonprofit success. Far from sacrificing America’s music
or compromising its integrity, JALC is nurturing future generations of jazz
legends and lovers.
JALC sustains two resident orchestras—the Lincoln Center
Jazz Orchestra and the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra—and produces more than 800
concerts each year. It also commissions new work and develops many radio and
television broadcasts, recordings and publications, along with a website at www.jalc.org and tailored educational experiences
for every audience.
Based on the wide reach and critical acclaim of JALC’s
programming, the demand for jazz has grown. To meet it, JALC is cultivating a
cadre of jazz philanthropists by exposing new audiences to the music and
welcoming people who have traditionally donated to other artistic
sectors.
JALC is also generating revenue streams through its new facility and
programming. It designed Frederick P. Rose Hall, the world’s first performance,
education and broadcast facility devoted to jazz, to also accommodate dance,
theater, opera, film and symphony productions. Recently JALC and XM Satellite
Radio announced that XM will broadcast live daily from new, state-of-the-art
studios at Rose Hall. JALC has also created co-branding agreements with
corporate sponsors: Brooks Brothers is the official clothier of JALC’s resident
ensembles, and Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola brings live jazz to audiences in an
intimate dinner club setting 365 nights a year.
Jazz at Lincoln Center helped
spawn a profusion of jazz programming. Venues across the United States—such as
the Los Angeles Music Center and the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia—have
incorporated jazz into their seasonal lineups. The San Francisco Jazz
Organization, which also began as a festival and became a nonprofit, recently
created its own jazz band. In Japan and South Africa, JALC is using jazz as a
means of fostering cross-cultural interaction and understanding.
 | Derek E. Gordon is the president and CEO of Jazz at Lincoln Center. |