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Black Lives Matter

Montavilla Jazz stands in solidarity with the Movement for Black Lives and the fight to end systemic racism in our communities and institutions.

Jazz is America’s indigenous art form born out of the African American experience. We believe that jazz is relevant to the lives of all people as a community-building force for education and social justice. We are proud to dedicate ourselves to the promotion of jazz, its history, its cultural significance, and the local musicians who perform it.

It is time to find the courage to look in the mirror and ask ourselves how we can improve as we work to become a more equitable and diverse organization. We at Montavilla Jazz have to do better. We will do better.

Our Commitments 

Montavilla Jazz is committed to growing our organization in a way that brings more voices to the table. We have set our intention to make the following commitments an indelible part of Montavilla Jazz systems, practices and policies as we grow and develop as an organization.

IN ALL AREAS OF OUR WORK MONTAVILLA JAZZ WILL:

  1. Seek to include the people who reflect the community we serve. 
  2. Highlight members of our artist community who are less visible because of their race, gender, or other factors. 
  3. Provide opportunities for underserved members of our community to participate in the planning and operations of events. 
  4. Recruit and hire individuals who come from groups who have been historically marginalized. 

We Acknowledge 

As a step toward honoring the truth and achieving healing and reconciliation, our organization commits to open all public events and gatherings with a statement acknowledging the traditional Native lands on which we stand.

Credits

Board of Directors

Neil Mattson—Executive Director/Chair
Ryan Meagher—Programming Director
Aaron Hayman—Art Director
Nancy Mitchell—Secretary
Steve Mitchell—Treasurer
Kim Harrison
Marcia Hocker
Katherine Sharp

Resource Council

Hobie Bender—Bipartisan Cafe
Stephen Blackman—Brownstein Rask
Donna Cruz-Moreno—PJCE
Deborah DeMoss Smith—KMHD
Douglas Detrick
Pete Emerson—Bipartisan Cafe
Darrell Grant—PSU
Fritz Hirsch—IRCO
Don Lucoff—DL Music Media
Pancho Savery—Reed College
George Thorn—RACC