Mission Statement
MISSION
"The Jazzschool has quickly turned into a major educational presence in the Bay Area, with a faculty drawn from the region's finest musicians. It contributes to the creation of a burgeoning jazz corridor in downtown Berkeley."- DownBeat Magazine
Mission Statement
The Jazzschool fosters the development of the aspiring jazz musician and endeavors to build new audiences to sustain and promote the jazz art form, by integrating a preeminent education program of jazz and related styles of music with life-enriching performance opportunities.
Vision Statement
To play a leading role in the international jazz community and to contribute to the cultural life of the San Francisco Bay Area by:
- Serving as a complete jazz conservatory for instrumentalists and vocalists of all ages and all and all ability levels
- Ensuring the highest standards of quality and professionalism
- Acknowledging and supporting jazz and related styles of music of the past, present and future
- Offering students of all ages an integrated program of classes, workshops, lectures, performance and artist-in-residence programs and recording opportunities
- Maintaining a state-of-the-art facility, including classrooms, practice rooms, performance venue, book and record store, photography gallery and cafe
- Providing a fully-equipped performance venue for faculty, touring artists, and students, and allowing students the unique opportunity to immediately apply in live performance what they have learned in the classroom
- Promoting the values of cultural diversity and access through community outreach efforts and by awarding scholarships based on both merit and need
- Collaborating with selected educational institutions with complementary missions
- Celebrating the West Coast as a destination for jazz, while reaching out to leading artists and organizations in other major jazz centers internationally
- Nurturing a vital community of jazz students, teachers, performers, composers and listeners.
Description
ABOUT THE SCHOOL
The Jazzschool is an innovative music school dedicated to the study and performance of America's indigenous art form -- jazz, and related styles of music from around the world.
Founded in 1997, the Jazzschool is now located in the historic Kress Building on the northwest corner of Shattuck and Addison streets, situated in the heart of the burgeoning Downtown Berkeley Arts District. Integrating a unique number of uses complementary to jazz study and performance, the Jazzschool resides in a multidimensional arts community with the Tony Award-winning Berkeley Repertory Theatre, the Aurora Theater, the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre in the Nevo Education Center, Capoeira Arts, the Art & Music Room at the Berkeley Public Library and the restaurant, downtown.
Hailed as one of the most comprehensive schools for jazz in the country, the Jazzschool offers instrumentalists and vocalists of all ages and levels a broad spectrum of performance and lecture classes, short-term workshops and private instruction. Classes are designed for the professional musician, the serious student and the jazz aficionado seeking greater personal enrichment. The Bassment, Jazzschool's book and record store, serves as a unique resource for first-rate reading and listening materials and provides students and the public with supplemental jazz course materials, out-of-the-ordinary books, recordings, videos and music related accessories. The Jazzcaffè and The Jazz Image (a photography gallery featuring works by Lee Tanner) contribute to an intimate setting for faculty and student performances (see concert schedule, pp. 30-33). The Jazzcaffè serves as a gathering place for musicians, their families and friends to exchange ideas, listen to great music and enjoy a bite to eat.
Located at the hub of the Downtown Berkeley Arts District, students have easy access to the Jazzschool via public transportation. The downtown Berkeley BART station at Center Street is located less than half a block from the Jazzschool's front door and AC Transit bus stops are nearby. In addition to metered street parking and passenger loading zones, there is a public parking garage only one block away.
For up-to-date information on classes, workshops, lectures and concerts, visit our web site at www.jazzschool.com, contact us via e-mail swing@jazzschool.com . You can also send a fax to 510.841.5373 or call us at 510.845.5373. Better yet, just stop by!
