Looking At: Jazz, America's Art Form

Award Announcement

looking at jazz National Video Resources (NVR), in partnership with the American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office, named 43 public and academic libraries nationwide as pilot sites for the documentary film viewing and discussion series Looking At: Jazz, America's Art Form.

This six-week initiative, with programs taking place between September 2006 and September 2007, featured six carefully curated viewing and discussion programs accompanied by a selection of compelling documentary films, essays written by eminent scholars, and an extensive resource guide for additional reading, Web sites, videos and DVDs.

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) provided support for Looking At: Jazz.

Looking At: Jazz

  • New Orleans: The Birthplace of Jazz
  • The Jazz Age and the 1920s
  • The Women of Jazz
  • The Jazz Swing Era
  • Jazz Innovators: From Bebop, to Hard Bop, to Cool and More
  • Latin Jazz

A total of 50 nonprofit institutions were selected to participate. Each one received materials and resources (films, written materials, publicity materials, access to an electronic discussion list and project Web site), inclusion in a 1.5 day training workshop and a cash grant of $1,000. The training workshop was held September 29-30, 2006, in Chicago.

The 43 libraries selected for the pilot program were:

  • University of Alaska, Consortium Library, Anchorage, Alaska
  • Central Arkansas Library, Little Rock, Arkansas
  • Phoenix Public Library, Phoenix, Arizona
  • Berkeley Public Library, Berkeley, California
  • Sacramento Public Library, Sacramento, California
  • San Diego Public Library, San Diego, California
  • New Haven Free Public Library, New Haven, Connecticut
  • Jacksonville Public Library, Jacksonville, Florida
  • Orange County Library, Orlando, Florida
  • University of South Florida Tampa Library, Tampa, Florida
  • Albany State University Library, Albany, Georgia
  • Athens-Clarke County Library, Athens, Georgia
  • University of Idaho Library, Moscow, Idaho
  • Cedar Rapids Public Library, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
  • Bloomington Public Library, Bloomington, Illinois
  • Oak Park Public Library, Oak Park, Illinois
  • Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, Indiana
  • University of Kansas Libraries, Lawrence, Kansas
  • Wichita State University Library, Wichita, Kansas
  • Lucille C. Little Fine Arts Library, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky
  • East Baton Rouge Parish Library, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
  • New Orleans Public Library, New Orleans, Louisiana
  • Albert S. Cook Library, Towson University, Townson, Maryland
  • Detroit Public Library, Detroit, Michigan
  • Minneapolis Public Library, Minneapolis, Minnesota
  • St. Louis Public Library, St. Louis, Missouri
  • University of New Hampshire Library, Durham, New Hampshire
  • Princeton Public Library, Princeton, New Jersey
  • Northern Onondaga Public Library, Cicero, New York
  • Queens Library, Jamaica, New York
  • Kent State University Library, Kent, Ohio
  • Carlson Library, University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio
  • Multnomah County Library, Portland, Oregon
  • Langston Hughes Memorial Library, Lincoln University, Lincoln University, Pennsylvania
  • Gumberg Library, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  • Brown University Library, Providence, Rhode Island
  • Charleston County Public Library, Charleston, South Carolina
  • University Libraries, University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee
  • Dallas Public Library, Dallas, Texas
  • Williamsburg Regional Library, Williamsburg, Virginia
  • Bellingham Public Library, Bellingham, Washington
  • Milwaukee Public Library, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
  • Natrona County Public Library, Casper, Wyoming

The 7 nonprofit institutions selected for the pilot program were:

  • Jazz89 KUVO in partnership with the Denver Public Library, Denver, Colorado
  • Grand Rapids Community Media Center in partnership with the Grand Rapids Public Library, Grand Rapids, Michigan
  • Minnesota State University Mankato, Mankato, Minnesota
  • Tribeca Performing Arts Center in partnership with the A. Philip Randolph Memorial Library at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, New York, New York
  • University of North Carolina Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina
  • Texas Music Museum in partnership with the Austin Public Library - Howson Branch, Austin, Texas
  • Georgetown University, Washington, DC

Please contact publicprograms@ala.org with questions.