ABOUT 

In partnership, Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice, The New School, M³ (Mutual Mentorship for Musicians), and NYC Winter Jazzfest join forces to host the gender symposium This Is A Movement in January 2022. With the impact of the #MeToo movement and the necessary increase in attention to gender issues as they relate to equity in the jazz community, some strides have been made on the bandstand, in academia, and in industry culture, but more can be done. This timely program accessible in-person and by streaming, seeks to engage and amplify a broad array of institutional, organizational, and individual efforts towards a movement of gender equity, racial justice and liberation. 

THIS IS A MOVEMENT FOUNDING MEMBERS 

▸ Aja Burrell Wood, Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice

▸ Sarah Elizabeth Charles, The New School - School of Jazz I College of Performing Arts

▸ Caroline Davis, The New School - School of Jazz I College of Performing Arts, Justice for Keith Lamar

▸ Amanda Ekery, The New School - School of Jazz I College of Performing Arts

▸ Gina Izzo, bespoken, Carnegie Hall

▸ Niama Safia Sandy, NYC Winter Jazzfest, The Blacksmiths

▸ Brice Rosenbloom, NYC Winter Jazzfest, Jazz Coalition, The Blacksmiths

▸ Sara Serpa, M3 (Mutual Mentorship for Musicians)

▸ Jen Shyu, M3 (Mutual Mentorship for Musicians)

Lead Producer (2022 Convening): Freda Knowles
Marketing and Communications Manager: Hannah Beaumont
Website Design: Myles Glover
Art Direction: Tina Ateljevic, Taïs Bean

Winter Jazzfest:

Since its founding in 2005, Winter Jazzfest has cemented a reputation as a hotbed of cultural discovery, presenting new and exciting sounds and scenes throughout New York. Praised by New York Times, The New Yorker, NPR and others, the festival continues to grow as a dynamic rate, from its original one-day single-location program, to a 2020 itinerary that spanned 21 stages over eleven nights, in Downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn, featuring over 700 artists, and more than 170 groups. In 2015, the festival was voted “#1 Jazz Festival in North America” by JazzTimes magazine, and has become a pivotal destination for any arts leaders and cultural cognoscenti who visit the city early in the year.

The Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice:

The Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice was founded in 2018 by Terri Lyne Carrington and focuses on equity in the jazz field and the role that jazz plays in the larger struggle for gender justice. The institute will celebrate the contributions women have made in the development of the art form as well as frame more equitable conditions for all pursuing careers in jazz in an effort to work toward a necessary and lasting cultural shift in the field. Their values of Imagination, Equity, Freedom and Ownership help to facilitate the fostering of creative practice and scholarship in jazz within an integrated and egalitarian setting. They specifically seek to engage in the pursuit of jazz without patriarchy and, in making a long-lasting cultural shift in jazz and other music communities, recognizing the role that jazz can play in the larger struggle for gender and racial justice and equity.

M³ (Mutual Mentorship for Musicians):

Co-founded by Jen Shyu and Sara Serpa, M³ (Mutual Mentorship for Musicians) is a platform created to empower, elevate, normalize and give visibility to women, non-binary musicians and those of other historically underrepresented gender identities in intersection with race, sexuality, or ability across generations in the US and worldwide, through a radical model of mentorship and musical collaborative commissions. By supporting artistic excellence through each cohort, M³ creates expandable music communities, while developing sustained lucrative career opportunities for women and non-binary musicians in the industry, in particular for women and non-binary musicians of color. By building a non-hierarchical and intergenerational paradigm of mentorship, M³ celebrates a global network of artists, providing a think tank for new ways to connect, collaborate, perform, support and create.

The M³ residency at Winter Jazzfest, features 21 sets of M³ musical performances, screenings, and conversations spanning 7 nights, from January 13-22. The inaugural residency is made possible with the generous support of South Arts. Mutual Mentorship for Musicians will hold its inaugural residency under the auspices of Winter Jazzfest. Participants include Samantha Boshnack, Caroline Davis, Miriam Elhajli, Ganavya, Eden Girma, Val Inc. AKA Val Jeanty, Romarna Campbell, Maya Keren, Erica Lindsay, Lesley Mok, Shanta Nurullah, Cleo Reed, Michele Rosewoman, Sara Serpa, Jen Shyu, Monnette Sudler, Anjna Swaminathan, Sumi Tonooka, Fay Victor and Malika Zarra.

The Mutual Mentorship for Musicians (M³) Residency at Winter Jazzfest is made possible with the support of Jazz Road, a national initiative of South Arts, which is funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with additional support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

The School of Jazz and Contemporary Music at The College of Performing Arts at The New School:

The School of Jazz and Contemporary Music is renowned across the globe as a center for progressive, innovative artists. Considered the most innovative school of its kind, it offers students an artist-as-mentor approach to learning. The world’s leading contemporary and jazz musicians, like Reggie Workman, Matt Wilson, Mary Halvorson, Jane Ira Bloom, and more, work with students one-on-one to hone their craft and create groundbreaking music. In 2017, The School of Jazz started offering a “Jazz and Gender” course, designed by musicians/educators Sarah Elizabeth Charles and Caroline Davis, which was the first of its kind at the University. This yielded a Jazz and Gender Series, created as an auxiliary initiative to the course in an effort to provide a safe space for culturally productive conversations around gender in the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music.