Jazz Gallery Kickstarter to Give Artists Rehearsal Space

Jazz Gallery is fundraising on Kickstarter to be able to provide their space to musicians for rehearsal whenever they are not using it.  It's a great way to help music continue and grow.  It doesn't have to be much.  The campaign is going on for 20 more days, but there is a matching gift offer valid until this Tuesday, so if you are reading this and want to give something, do it now.

Here's the link to donate:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thejazzgallery/the-woodshed-at-the-jazz-gallery

Kickstarter Campaign for "The Woodshed at The Jazz Gallery"

Now through Tuesday, July 25th, 2011 - The Jazz Gallery’s Board of Directors is offering up to $2,000 in a 2:1 matching pledge: if we receive $4,000 in pledges by the Tuesday July 25th deadline, our board will add $2,000! Give now to help us to achieve or exceed 50% of our goal by Tuesday!

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We at The Jazz Gallery are launching The Woodshed at The Jazz Gallery, a new initiative to offer musicians the use of our space at no charge for rehearsal, research, and development.

Beginning in January 2012, we will make our space available during “dark” hours to artists for approximately fifteen hours per week (with limitations on the number of hours each artist may sign out) on average, which will result in over 750 hours of free rehearsal time for our artists in 2012. Any artist who has performed at The Jazz Gallery as a leader or sideperson will be able to sign out the space during available hours. Scheduling will be planned around the timing of our artist residencies, which offer selected artists the unrestricted use of the space for a one-month period.

In the midst of decreasing public arts funding and the increasing gentrification of lower Manhattan, affordable rehearsal space for musicians is growing scarcer than ever before. Recent press and media coverage demonstrates that these artists tend to receive very low fees for their performances, meaning that even a $20/hour rehearsal cost often falls outside of their budget. After fielding many requests from artists for the use of the space, and after noticing the impact of the recent closings of rehearsal facilities in the area, we at The Jazz Gallery have decided to launch this new program designed to address this growing need.

Because we wish to offer the space to the artists free of charge, we need your help. Specifically, we need funding to pay the people working on this project, which will include time spent coordinating the scheduling and hundreds of hours of in-person oversight, not to mention the increased operating expenses resulting from keeping our space running for extra hours.

Executive Director Deborah Steinglass says, “We are excited by the possibility of providing urgently needed rehearsal space to a large roster of jazz artists who make The Jazz Gallery a wonderful home for jazz lovers and musicians alike. We want the artists who perform and grow here to know that they can turn to us for help. Our audiences and members feel deeply connected to the musicians who play here and they enjoy following their artistic development. Now, they can directly contribute to the musicians' artistic growth by supporting this effort.”

Of course, don't take our word for it - follow the link below to watch the video and see what this project means to our artists. Also, please take a look at the long list of amazing rewards we have made available in collaboration with our artists and friends: every contribution, regardless of amount, is a show of support and will help us move closer to reaching our goal.

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