Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice and New Music USA Launch New Program

New Music USA and the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice have announced the launch of Next Jazz Legacy, a new program focused on increasing opportunities for women and nonbinary improvisers in jazz.

Women are still underrepresented in jazz, making up only 16 percent of the core band personnel on albums listed in a recent NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll, to give just one example. Next Jazz Legacy aims to inspire change across the jazz community, providing early-career artists with long-term apprenticeships, financial support, and promotion. Funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the program will make major investments in 20 artists and bandleaders over the next three years.

The inaugural class will include six candidates chosen by a panel of musicians that includes Terri Lyne Carrington, artistic director of the Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice; Aja Burrell Wood, managing director of the institute and a member of the board of directors for New Music USA; and Kris Davis, associate program director of creative development for the institute. The program, which launched on November 1, is accepting submissions through November 29. Candidates must be U.S. residents, fully vaccinated, and cannot be enrolled in an academic institution or contracted with a third-party recording company through the duration of the program. Selected artists will be announced in January 2022.

“Next Jazz Legacy amplifies and addresses the need for all musicians, practitioners, and professionals in jazz to contribute to a more equitable jazz future,” said Carrington. “The people that have benefited the most from long-established systems of oppression in our field are precisely the ones that need to help with addressing the problem. Otherwise, they are modeling, and at times even teaching, how to replicate those systems.”

“Over 50 percent of New Music USA’s annual grant funds go to women and nonbinary artists. However, we know that some of the inequities in our community can’t be resolved with grant funding alone. Next Jazz Legacy addresses this by providing experience on the road, promotion, and opportunities for participants to learn and grow with other artists at similar stages in their career," said Vanessa Reed, president and CEO of New Music USA. "I’m excited to see who applies for this opportunity, which is open to improvisers from across the country. I’m also looking forward to seeing, over time, how Next Jazz Legacy becomes a trusted resource for anyone programming the best of our next generation’s talent.”

Next Jazz Legacy artists will receive a $10,000 grant, a one-year performance apprenticeship, a two-track mutual mentorship program, access to peer-learning cohorts led by Carrington, online learning courses from Berklee, and a variety of promotional opportunities, from a podcast series and artist playlists developed with media partners to live showcases with national presenters.

The Next Jazz Legacy advisory board also includes Gabrielle Armand from Jazz at Lincoln Center; Darlene Chan from FestivalWest; Sarah Elizabeth Charles, a vocalist and educator; Simone Eccleston from the Kennedy Center; Monica Haslip from Little Black Pearl Art and Design Academy; Suraya Mohamed from NPR; Brice Rosenbloom from NYC Winter Jazzfest; Angelica Sanchez, a jazz pianist and composer; and Sean Jones, bandleader and educator.

“For decades, gross inequities around gender diversity, specifically in the types of roles women and non-binary musicians play in jazz, have caused these individuals to not have the same opportunities and to feel isolated, often discredited and disconnected from the overall community in jazz," said Jones. "The Next Jazz Legacy program is here to not only address those concerns, but to get to the heart of these issues by providing solutions.”

New Music USA and the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice are grateful to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and to donors Joseph A. and Nancy Meli Walker for their generous support of the program.