Dear Friend of Oaktown Jazz Workshops,
We are honored to have your support. Not only has 2014 marked our 20th anniversary as a performing arts and youth development organization, but this year has been one of our busiest and most rewarding.
Our continuing partnerships with other performing arts organizations have enabled us to bring youth together from different artistic disciplines to collaborate on several original productions and participate in our Jazz Encounters clinics, where young musicians have opportunities to learn from today’s top touring jazz artists. We are pleased to also reach hundreds more students each year through our Jazz in the Schools program at public elementary and middle schools throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.
This year, our youth performance ensemble recorded Oaktown Jazz Workshops’ 4th full-length CD album, and engaged audiences at 27 community events, including two featured sets of jazz at Oakland’s Art & Soul Festival and our sold-out concert last month at Yoshi’s in Jack London Square.
As you know, at the core of OJW are our intensive weekly jazz workshops where young instrumentalists are mentored by supportive, experienced musicians in the tradition of jazz as a community-based art form. Oaktown Jazz Workshops’ Founding Director, Khalil Shaheed, addressed this need twenty years ago and now many of OJW’s alumni have grown up to use the voice they found in music to perform as professional musicians all across the globe. Others have drawn upon the confidence they gained through artistic collaboration to excel in meaningful careers and leadership positions in fields ranging from the sciences to social justice. We are very proud of our alumni who serve as role models for the younger generation of musicians in our program.
It has always been through the generosity of friends like you that we remain such a healthy and vibrant organization. Two years ago we launched the Khalil Shaheed Scholarship Fund to cover the cost of our workshops for young musicians who could not otherwise afford tuition. We now ask for your contribution, in whatever amount you can manage, to encourage our children’s creativity, elevate music education and appreciation, and enrich our diverse community.
Sincerely,
Ravi Abcarian
Executive Director