About Us
Outreach and Partnerships
Part of the Guelph Jazz Festival's mission is to make our performances accessible to the broadest possible audience through our annual festival and a year-round program that includes concerts, special events and educational programs. Educational programs are designed and delivered through number of partnerships, where improvising artists are placed in direct and meaningful contact with the community.
Jazz in the Community
Building Creativity and Community through Improvisation is a partnership with Guelph Youth Dance Training Program, Onward Willow and Sonic Playground. Working within a community that is recognized as having special needs, be they economic, social and/or emotional, artists provide an opportunity for children to be exposed to a creative and improvisational approach to learning dance and music in a series of workshops. Artists are able to expand their concepts of what these art forms mean and show them how art can play an important role in their own lives. These workshops culminate in a community performance.
Artists and Community Collaboration: The Guelph Jazz Festival brings Montreal's Ratchet Orchestra to three local health centres: the Homewood Health Centre, St. Joseph's Health Centre and KidsAbility Centre for Child Development, with the goal of creating a musical experience. The Ratchet Orchestra offers hands-on workshops or live musical performances for patients, residents and participants. Musicians focus on bringing joy and self-awareness, helping participants address the circumstances that contributed to their involvement with the respective health centre. This year, the KidsAbility Youth Ensemble will perform with Ratchet Orchestra at the Upper Wyndam Street Jazz Tent.
New! Improviser in Residence: the Guelph Jazz Festival is proud to welcome Jane Bunnett, one of Canada's most accomplished jazz performers and long-time friend of the festival. Through a partnership with the Improvisation, Community, and Social Practice (ICASP) project and funding from the Musagetes Foundation, Jane will immerse herself in the local community through a series of intensive workshops culminating in a special performance, installation, or commissioned work to be presented at the 2011 Festival. These workshops and special performances will provide on-the-ground examples of outreach initiatives that will feed into discussions held during the Guelph Musagetes Café in 2013.
For our Jazz in the Schools program we partner with the Upper Grand River District School Board and the University of Guelph to place artists right in the classroom, complementing existing music programming. Students are encouraged to participate in jazz and improvised music as well as to discuss the value of arts and culture in our society.
OUR PARTNERS
Our collaborators believe in the festival and recognize the cultural and economic impact it has on the city of Guelph. 2011 festival partners: too many to thank, so we encourage you to look at our sponsor page, to see who believes in the festival. Special thanks to our Associate Sponsors: Inbox Marketer; our Major Sponsors The Holiday Inn and Delta Guelph Hotel; our media sponsors, the Downtown Guelph Business Association, participating downtown Nuit Blanche partners, and the Guelph Fab 5.
