Arts Activities Support

Our greatest outcome again this past season was our annual Winter Jazz Fest which featured five acts and drew over 100 attendees throughout the day. An event like this brings the entire local jazz scene together, exposes audiences to new groups and music, and serves to demonstrate the strength and diversity of our jazz community. Our fifth season of Jazz at Studio Z was again a success, especially with regards to our artistic goals. The space we've created for artists allows them to fulfill their artistic vision without any hindrance, one of the few venues in the Twin Cities that this is possible, and to do so in an intimate listening room format. We once again had new groups make their debut and had more established artists premiere new music. The level of consistent quality expected and delivered at Jazz at Studio Z is perhaps the best in the Twin Cities. We feel that the project served its intended community/audience well again this season. We had over 40 performers participate throughout the season, and nearly 400 audience members. The diversity in age, gender, and ethnicity of both our performers and our audiences was substantial. The effort to involve more female performers in jazz is ongoing due in part to the smaller percentage of players, but we are always trying to improve on that, and featured two female led groups this season. Our affordable ticket price makes the concerts accessible, while the workshops remain free to the public, and children 12 and under get in to the concerts free as well. We continue to try to involve more young people by reaching out to schools and working with the Dakota Foundation for Jazz Education.