Jazz Musicians, Where Y’all At?

I’ve spent nearly 13 hours over the past two days attending and observing the public review sessions for the CPAC and Cuyahoga Arts and Culture Creative Workforce Fellowships (CWF).  As I write this, the adjudication panel is deliberating on the applications that made it into the second round, and at some point this afternoon they will have come to a consensus as to which 20 applicants will be recommended for Fellowships.    This current cycle of CWFs, the second of 2009, focuses on artists in dance, music, theater and literary disciplines.  Earlier this summer 20 artists within the fine art, photography, film and design disciplines already received fellowship honors of a $20,000 grant to support their artistic activities, free business training opportunities through CPAC and a free one year membership in the COSE Arts Network.  The funds for these individual artist fellowships comes from Cuyahoga Arts and Culture which receives its revenue from taxes on the sales of cigarettes within the county.  Because CAC is limited in its ability to give funding directly to individuals, CPAC is facilitating and managing this entire CWF program.  

To the best of my knowledge this is the only program of its kind nationwide to use public funding to support individual artists.  All told this year, CPAC and CAC will have distributed $800,000 directly to working, creative artists right here in our own back yard.  Even if you or a colleague aren’t  among those honored with a fellowship, you are a beneficiary of the program; our entire creative community and local economy is better off having these artists supported financially to stay in the area and keep creating and producing their work, rather than seek greener arts pastures elsewhere.  The CWF program, and the seemingly tireless work of CPAC and CAC, goes to great lengths to lessen the “brain drain” so prevalent in NE Ohio and to help combat the stigma that our city and area can’t be a hub of creative thought and work.  Please look soon on the CPAC Web site to see the final selections for this round of Fellowships. 

However, with that being said, I still walk away from these review sessions somewhat disappointed.  Of the nearly 180 applications accepted and reviewed for this cycle, only 3 were jazz or creative improvisation-based entries.  Of those 3 entries, 2 moved on to the second round to ultimately compete for a $20,000 Fellowship.  Traditional, folk, Golden Era and old timey music was well represented; European classical and new music instrumentalists were present; R&B, rap and hip hop was present; and even modern rock and singer songwriter styles were well represented in the pool of applicants.  Yet I could count on one hand the number of jazz and creative improv musicians that stepped up and demanded to be recognized in the process.  Also very well represented were dance, theater and literary artists from many different genres and styles.         

Jazz and creative musicians in our area often complain about the lack of playing opportunities and exposure, shrinking number of serious jazz or creative music venues, and indifference towards jazz music from the general public.  It is not uncommon for younger aspiring jazz musicians to leave the area to seek a city with a jazz scene that better supports musicians. 

Well, Cleveland area jazz community, you may have dropped the ball on this one.  The very well publicized application process was not only inclusive and well marketed, but CPAC went to great lengths to hold informational workshops about the application process (in several different geographic locations), and also offer tactical advice on how to enter the competition and best represent yourself as a creative artist seeking grant funding.  In short, they availed themselves to the artist community to try to minimize any perceptual or inclusion boundaries sometimes associated with the arts grant process.  I personally sent out emails to over 120 jazz and creative musicians to help promote the grant information workshops and the CWF application process and to spread the word.   

This was an opportunity for the jazz community to be heard and recognized by the funding infrastructure of NE Ohio, and sadly the community fell short.  One of the reviewing adjudicators actually went so far as to comment that he was disappointed that a city with a rich jazz history such as Cleveland did not produce more than 3 applicants in this grant program (please note, all of the adjudicators were from outside the region or state, and the comment I just mentioned came from a musicologist, college music professor and professional pianist from the Michigan area). 

The bad news for the jazz community?  Depending on how the second round goes today, as many as 20 separate $20,000 Fellowships may be awarded to non-jazz musicians, which to my mind is not representative enough of an art form considered by many to be America’s classical music and with such a respected history in our area.  This is not reflective of the grantmakers or adudicators; they can only review what submissions they receive, and in this case the jazz community was absent by their own inactivity.   

The good news?  As long as funding continues, CAC and CPAC will again offer Creative Workforce Fellowships in 2010, and the opportunity for inclusion may present itself again to the jazz community, including informational workshops and the opportunity to learn about the grants and application process well before any materials or submissions are due. 

I don’t mean to come across as didactic or condescending, but if you are a jazz musician or creative improv-based artist, and you feel that this truly American art form is relevant and deserves to be recognized by the general public and funding infrastructure, then get up and get involved in programs like these as they are offered to the arts community in NE Ohio.