HELP SUPPORT BJA IN 2015!
Dear Baltimore Jazz Alliance supporter:
As we come to the close of another year, we want to share with you how the Baltimore Jazz Alliance has been elevating the role of jazz in the Baltimore region and to ask for your support.
WEBSITE: Our website serves jazz lovers, jazz musicians, and jazz venues with current articles about jazz and a free calendar listing performances in the Baltimore area. Artists and venues can add their own performances, so we encourage anyone not already using it to sign up and start posting. This is a very effective marketing tool for musicians as well as a resource for all Baltimore jazz lovers. We continue to improve our website and our Facebook page, so visit soon and often!
NEWSLETTER: Our monthly newsletter continues to draw attention to jazz in Baltimore. In the past year, articles have featured reviews of jazz shows, member interviews, member profiles, and other jazz-related topics –all which would otherwise be ignored by local media. As we continue to improve the newsletter, we are always looking for new writers and article suggestions, so please contact us with any ideas!
BIG BAND CONCERTS, ARTSCAPE, AND OTHER EVENTS:
•Our fourth year of BJA Big Band concerts featured talented Baltimore-area composers and arrangers with a program consisting entirely of their works.
•We again hosted a booth at Artscape to promote Baltimore jazz
•We continue our partnership with Morgan State University’s WEAA (88.9FM)—Baltimore’s biggest jazz radio station—to promote jazz performances and venues in the area.
•We also hosted two social events: a June webcast of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra’s June performance of Duke Ellington compositions, and a December meet-and-greet for members and jazz aficionados, just before the Eric Byrd Trio’s holiday concert at the Eubie Blake Jazz Center.
COMING IN 2015: As we prepare for 2015, we aim to continue improving our website and social media presence to promote jazz in the region. We are also planning a fundraising event on April 19th at Caton Castle, which will feature a silent auction, a live jazz group, scholarships and awards to Baltimore jazz dignitaries.
YOUR SUPPORT IS NEEDED! As a 501(c)3 nonprofit run by an all-volunteer board of directors, the Baltimore Jazz Alliance relies on the support of individual memberships and donations. Please consider joining me and my fellow board members in making a year-end tax-deductible gift to further our efforts to further support jazz in the Baltimore area. Donations can be made online at baltimorejazz.com or by check, mailed to the address on the letterhead. If your membership has lapsed or is about to lapse, please consider renewing now!
Sincerely,
Mark Osteen (President) and board members Alice Downs, Liz Fixsen, Brad Gunson, Bob Jacobson, Sara Jerkins Todd Marcus, Ian Rashkin, Robert Shahid, Marcellus “The Bassman” Shepard