Wynton Marsalis

Matt, I would bet a lot of that 50 million dollars went to constructing that building. But the money will come back over time. It's big business. It's an investment. One could question the legitimacy of having jazz at Lincoln Center to begin with.

After all that money, they've putting up free concerts outside in the quadrangle for years now! Back to populism? Back to the future? : )

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After all that money, they're putting up free concerts outside in the quadrangle! Good n' Bad! Back to seeking populism? : )

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Re: Populism..Too late, that ship has sailed.

Again how may thousands of concerts could be held in a quadrangle somewhere in the US for a combined 50 million.

What a joke all this is.
 
What a joke all this is.

Sad but true. I dont know much about public funding but it seems to me that all philanthrpphy - and the US is by far the most charitable in the world despite all the hue and cry about cutbacks - always winds up in the hands of people who then suddenly want to play God and put their stamp on who or what gets annnointed. Gates and Soros have great reputations for doing the right thing the the right way.

Doris Duke used to present a lot of nice free concerts. But now they don't any more. I wasn't aware that it is because their funding is diverted to JALC, I thought it was the economy. Though it makes sense; they were doing free concerts at NYPL in Lincoln Center.
Who are the major givers for JALC, Ken? ( Besides state and federal.. I believe State funding is pulling out this year )

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Sad but true. I dont know much about public funding but it seems to me that all philanthrpphy - and the US is by far the most charitable in the world despite all the hue and cry about cutbacks - always winds up in the hands of people who then suddenly want to play God and put their stamp on who or what gets annnointed. Gates and Soros have great reputations for doing the right thing the the right way.


Who are the major givers for JALC, Ken? ( Besides state and federal.. I believe State funding is pulling out this year )

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They had concerts in the mall at the beginning of the season. I happened across one and all the guys were playing in expensive Italian suits.

Doris Duke Charitable Trust is a large contributor. But arts organization, esp those as old as NY Phil for example, have huge endowments. JALC has been building this from scratch. I would assume a lot of corporate funding has dried up and a lot of that funding comes from Banks and other financial institutions as well. JVC pulled out of the jazz fest because they said it wasn't cost affective. I would wonder if some of that had to do with JALC. Dizzy's is funded by Coca Cola. That place has to being in some good money. And the Theaters are mostly sold out. The JO also tours, which brings in revenue.

According to this article.

The organization had raised $131 million between 1998 and 2004 to construct its new home, shifting from merely presenting concerts to managing three venues. Adrian Ellis was its sixth administrative head in as many years. "Very few organizations grow that rapidly," Mr. Ellis said, sitting in his office across the street from Rose Hall. "This trajectory was off the charts. What's great about the current chapter is it's not about the building. It's now about how to use the building and everything else we've got in our deck of cards to forward the mission. And our mission is a really simple one: To help ensure there's vital future for this music, primarily—not exclusively—through different forms of audience development. To that extent, we're just a great big audience-development machine."

Five years ago, some feared that machine would swallow a chunk of the New York jazz scene. That hasn't been the case. "They make our business even better," said Lorraine Gordon, whose Village Vanguard celebrates its 75th year in 2010. "It creates a positive attitude and it educates people. I think it's an asset."

Outside New York, the jazz-club circuit is shrinking. Increasingly, jazz is presented at arts centers and universities. Within the jazz industry, some are troubled by Mr. Marsalis's dominance in that arena. "What if all that funding was spread across the entire spectrum of jazz," asked Scott Southard, whose International Music Network specializes in jazz, "instead of concentrated in one spot?" Then again, some credit Mr. Marsalis with engendering such support. For Randall Kline, who heads the San Francisco-based SF Jazz, "Jazz at Lincoln Center was important in establishing legitimacy. Before, there were no models for jazz in the institutional world."

That last statement is an interesting one. I don't know if that is true. But I would question if you criticize an organization for being able to raise 131 million dollars, or do you say its not fair its done so? In the score of things many arts organizations raise twice that for their yearly budget.

I would also wonder if JALC will start a trend of other Arts communities to have a theater for jazz. I have seeing jazz in clubs and always have.
 
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