American Jazz, American Culture: Panel Discussion March 20
Jazz is a gloriously American art form and has driven our country’s culture for generations,
mingling storytelling, improvisation, and richly original styles. Passed from elders
to new artists, decade by decade since it was first sparked among enslaved Black communities,
jazz evokes our collective history and excites our collective imagination.
In recognition of the profound cultural role of jazz, the Mellon Foundation’s recent
$35 million commitment to its preservation celebrates the many ways jazz is shaping
American society — and the artists, musicians and organizations across the United
States who keep expanding the possibilities of the artform.
Join Elizabeth Alexander, president of the Mellon Foundation; Farah Jasmine Griffin, author and professor, Columbia University; Terri Lyne Carrington, founder and artistic director, Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice; and
artist, musician, and composer esperanza spalding for a discussion that rejoices in the American innovation of jazz — and the cultural
creativity it has never ceased to generate throughout the nation and around the world.