WTJU 91.1 FM has been approved for a $20,000 Arts Education grant to support the development of an online jazz history curriculum.
Adapted from WTJU’s Jazz at 100 radio series, this project will creatively engage students around the unique story and passion of jazz music.
WTJU’s project is among the more than 1,100 projects across America totaling nearly $27 million that were selected during this second round of Grants for Arts Projects fiscal year 2021 funding.
“As the country and the arts sector begin to imagine returning to a post-pandemic world, the National Endowment for the Arts is proud to announce funding that will help arts organizations such as WTJU engage fully with partners and audiences,” said NEA Acting Chairman Ann Eilers.
WTJU’s program Jazz at 100, hosted by Rus Perry, has traced the history of recorded jazz through 100 one-hour episodes that have aired on dozens of public and community radio stations. Both this show and its successor program Jazz at 100 Today are available for syndication through the Public Radio Exchange (PRX) and WTJU.net/jazz100.
This project will adapt the Jazz at 100 research and audio recordings into a dynamic and engaging online curriculum primarily targeted toward high school and first-year college students.
“While many other resources exist for jazz history and online videos of jazz recordings proliferate, there is no freely available, comprehensive, online jazz history course specifically designed to meet the educational needs of America’s schools,” said Nathan Moore, General Manager of WTJU. “We’re going to design this to be far more interesting and creative than a typical textbook with companion recordings.”
For more information on the projects included in the Arts Endowment, visit arts.gov/news.
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