For the last decade, the Philadelphia Jazz Project has been curating experiences to support, promote, archive, and reinvigorate Jazz in the Philadelphia area and around the world. Founder, director, and curator Homer Jackson has built the organization from the ground up after stumbling upon an event years ago that inspired the creation of the PJP. After combining the necessary funding with the passion to grow this special initiative, the Philadelphia Jazz Project was born.
The Philadelphia Jazz Project operates as a vehicle that ultimately brings together artists and their communities to other artists and communities to create greater audience participation . It’s main programs always offer a unique intersection of Jazz music with the broader arts community of Philadelphia.
“The Jazz community is a piece of the larger art community, and both of these communities are extremely diverse and intersecting. It is disingenuous if we try to create and perpetuate the idea of this being about a single arts discipline, when it is really interdisciplinary. The Philadelphia Jazz Project is a diverse experience.”
You truly never know what kind of experience you will get when attending a PJP event - but you know it will always be unique, powerful, diverse and intergenerational. From elaborate Rent Parties inspired by the Great Migration, to a Concert Series at the Free Library in collaboration with Philly’s librarians, these zany, crazy, oddly unique experiences are curated by bringing together a variety of perspectives while engaging a multitude of different audiences.
“All art needs to be in service to the community. Art needs to speak to us. Art has to be engaged with us, make us feel something, move us. We are not interested in the protest of anything - we are always interested in illuminating the corners of the room that we aren't always aware of.”
Being a part of the CultureWorks community has been a great source of support for the Philadelphia Jazz Project, both in sponsorship and as a catalyst for growth of the organization.
“CultureWorks has been the most logical, democratic, advanced, ready-for-anything group for support of our organization. What I really liked about our relationship in the beginning was that it was like a ‘cha-cha’. They were teaching us, and we were teaching them just as much. It was a beautiful symbiotic relationship that helped us all to grow."
To stay up to date with Philadelphia Jazz Project’s vast array of performances, conversations, and special events, visit their website to sign up for their mailing list or join the team of volunteers helping to make the magic happen.
