2022 NYC Winter Jazzfest Marathon Schedule Announced + More Shows Added

Today, NYC Winter Jazzfest, Berklee Institute for Jazz and Gender Justice, The New School, and M³ (Mutual Mentorship for Mentorships) announce their new joint initiative This Is A Movement: Towards Liberation, a movement aiming to create a more equitable music industry - particularly in the jazz and creative space - through the lens of an intersectional Black feminist provocation. This Is A Movement will present a series of panels, discussions, and performances during Winter Jazzfest, January 13-22.

The inaugural gathering of This Is A Movement will take place at Winter Jazzfest 2022 through a series of panels and discussions, featuring Winter Jazzfest Artist-in-residence Angel Bat Dawid, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Fabian Almazan, Gargi Shindé, Terri Lyne Carrington, Shanta Thake, Linda May Han Oh, J Hoard, and renowned journalists Jordannah Elizabeth and Naomi Extra as moderators. Keynote panels and community discussions will take place January 15 through January 17.

Terri Lyne Carrington, musician, bandleader, and founder of Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice says, "It is crucial in this moment to recognize the expansion of gender identities and to frame it as an issue to be solved by all - not just by those who are underrepresented. It's a reflection of the gender inequity in society - an intervention needs to happen in jazz music and education ... that a more supporting environment needs to be created."

The topics of conversation that will be covered at the Keynote Panels as part of This Is A Movement address three major areas of focus: the personal - addressing topics such as parenthood, caregiving, self-identity and mental health; the bandstand - addressing gender discrimination and the imbalance of representation in festival lineups, venue programming, and on the bandstand; and the community - focusing on different relationships that exist within the music industry with an emphasis on accountability.

This Is A Movement brings together the aforementioned institutions, as well as a group of many independent artists and industry professionals, who have been separately doing work to advance conversations around equitable representation for underrepresented genders in the jazz and creative space. With this announcement, the intent is clear: these conversations need to be put at the forefront of our industry in 2022. By inviting the community to collectively share and reflect, this is a call to imagine and build a more equitable music industry together.

Additionally, the M³- Mutual Mentorship for Musicians initiative is in residence at Winter Jazzfest, and will present 21 women and non-binary bandleaders, showcasing them across 10 days through a series of performances, screenings, Deeper Dive action panels, and more. The Mutual Mentorship for Musicians (M³) Residency at Winter Jazzfest is made possible with the support of Jazz Road, a national initiative of South Arts, which is funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with additional support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

M³ participants include Samantha Boshnack, Romarna Campbell, Caroline Davis, Miriam Elhajli, Ganavya, Eden Girma aka aden, Val Inc. AKA Val Jeanty, Maya Keren, Erica Lindsay, Lesley Mok, Shanta Nurullah, Cleo Reed, Michele Rosewoman, Sara Serpa, Jen Shyu, Monnette Sudler, Anjna Swaminathan, Sumi Tonooka, Fay Victorand Malika Zarra.

A joint statement by Sara Serpa and Jen Shyu, co-founders of M³ (Mutual Mentorship for Musicians) says, "Of the groups that the pandemic has hit, artists are one of the most devastated, and if we look at who's now performing at major venues and festivals, we can see the obvious: the absence of women and non-binary musicians in the comeback. Through M³, we hope this new paradigm for mentorship and career development, in which musicians and music writers connect, support, and create together through collaboration, respect, and empathy, will inspire others to build new paradigms of mentorship around the world, not only in music and arts, but in other spheres."