With support from the California Arts Council, the Symphonic Jazz Orchestra will continue its flagship “Bach to Bebop” music residency for 2nd graders in four schools within Culver City Unified and 5th graders at Colin Powell Academy for Success in Long Beach. The four-unit program culminates in a school-wide assembly where the students perform the songs they composed. Grant funds will primarily be used to pay the teaching artists and visiting musicians throughout the yearlong residency.
SJO’s core programs and services include:
1) “Music in the Schools” residencies that reach over 4,500 students each week during the school year and provide music education to elementary schools in Compton, Culver City, Lennox, Los Angeles and Watts.
2) SJO’s free community concert series, presented in partnership with Carpenter Performing Arts Center “Arts for Life” program.
3) The annual Symphonic Jazz Orchestra Commissioning Prize competition honoring former SJO Co-Music Director, George Duke.
4) “Beyond Symphonic Jazz,” a 2-hour weekly broadcast, created in 2018 by America’s #1 Jazz station, KJazz 88.1 FM, in partnership with the SJO.