Latest news with #AndrewW.MellonFoundation
Time Magazine
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Time Magazine
Elizabeth Alexander
Few people have had careers that have championed diversity on as many fronts as Elizabeth Alexander. She has focused on the cause as a scholar, a writer, a teacher, an artist, and now as president of the $7.9 billion Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the largest funder of the arts and humanities in the U.S. So how does she feel about the rollback of diversity initiatives that she has spent most of her working life championing? 'Absolutely laser- focused, undauntedly focused, on the values that our work contains,' she says. 'And on the assertion that America is a richly and powerfully multi-vocal, multi-experiential democracy.' In April, after President Donald Trump's cost-cutting team deemed that much of the funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute for Museum and Library studies was wasteful, Mellon stepped in. 'We had grantees calling us, panicked, some of them unable to continue their projects and run their organizations,' says Alexander. 'We made a $15 million grant to the Federation of State Humanities Councils, and they will redistribute that money in all of the states and the six territories, so that these projects for now can carry forward.' That won't keep the lights on at all the reading groups, literary festivals, and free college classes that American taxpayers previously funded. But it has already spurred at least one philanthropist to make a matching grant of $250,000 to the Alabama State Humanities Council—and that, Alexander says, is the goal. 'Always in philanthropy, we are hoping that because of our extraordinary teams, and the power of the grantees, that others will be more able to see what those folks are doing and get excited about it and think about supporting it,' she says. Since arriving at the Mellon Foundation in 2018, after stints in academia and a concurrent career as a writer—she read one of her poems at President Barack Obama's 2009 inauguration—Alexander has used a social justice lens to examine the institution's grantmaking. 'We are trying to tell and lift up as broad a swath of American stories as possible,' she says. One of her signature initiatives has been the $500 million multi-year Monuments Project, which memorializes lesser-known figures and events from American history in public spaces. These can take the form of museum installations, statues, murals, or even a book of calligraphy, as in the case of The Ireichō, which lists the names of the 125,000 Japanese Americans forcibly relocated to internment camps during World War II. In February, Mellon announced a $35 million grant to help preserve the legacy of jazz, a uniquely American art form. Also new in 2025: a fellowship program that provides older jazz musicians with a $100,000 grant, plus extra cash for housing and other needs, so they can make and preserve their music. Alexander is energized by her fellow philanthropists' responses to the federal funding cuts and elimination of DEI programs. 'As much as this is a challenging time, it's actually a very powerful time in philanthropy, because people are coming together,' she says. Her hope is that by bringing these stories to light, people will begin to appreciate that American life is made richer by the differences of its varied communities. 'How do we emphasize and support… the critical thinking that allows people to learn and understand that you can tell more than one story at a time?' she asks. 'That allows people to ask the questions of how power works and what has been included and what has not been included, and how we can tell and uphold all of our history.' Though her day-to-day focus can vary, Alexander sees her books, her scholarship, and her administrative and grant-making work as all of a piece. What has surprised her about philanthropy is how sweeping its effects can be: teachers' work lives on in their students, writers' work lives on in the minds and lives of their readers, but philanthropists' work has visible ripple effects for generations. 'The reach of the work that people are doing is infinite,' she says.
The Hill
18-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hill
New jazz fellowship honors the genre's elders and gives them each an unrestricted $100,000 grant
NEW YORK (AP) — Bertha Hope was only three years old when she started playing Brahms' 'Lullaby' on the piano just from hearing it on the radio. 'How did you do that?' asked her shocked parents, both entertainers. 'That's when they really started paying attention to the fact that I had some talent that needed to be nurtured,' recalled Hope, who has used that talent to become a jazz pianist, composer and bandleader for decades. Though Hope, now 88, has toured extensively, recorded several albums and helped support the legacy of her late husband, the jazz pianist Elmo Hope, her talent still needs nurturing. And a new initiative dedicated to the preservation of jazz and the artists who helped build it plans to provide support for Hope and dozens of others. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and The Jazz Foundation of America on Tuesday announced the Jazz Legacies Fellowship — a new $15 million program that will give 50 artists who are 62 years or older a lifetime achievement award that includes a $100,000 unrestricted grant, professional support and performance opportunities. 'It's an incredible and very humbling honor,' said Hope, who is part of the program's inaugural class of 20 fellows. 'It will change my life forever.' Like so many jazz artists, Hope has amassed influence and accolades, but not the millions that stars in other musical genres enjoy. In order to make ends meet, most jazz musicians must tour and teach more than they would like. Hope says the grant will supplement her income enough to spend some time digging through recordings made at New York's Boogie Woogie Studio, owned and operated by her second husband, jazz bassist Walter Becker, best known for his time in the bands of Sarah Vaughan and Cannonball Adderley. 'They've been in my closet for so long,' said Hope, who was proud that Boogie Woogie would let young musicians record there for free. 'I would like to see if they're worth saving.' That kind of artistic work supporting both the history and future of jazz is exactly what organizers of the Jazz Legacies Fellowship hoped it would create. 'Jazz is such an extraordinary and quintessentially American art form,' Elizabeth Alexander, president of The Mellon Foundation, told The Associated Press. 'People who are playing at the highest levels today, they can trace their genealogy right back to the people who began the art form… So we thought that jazz was at this point where, especially for its elders and its history, there was a lot that we wanted to be able to protect and support. This was the time to do it.' The Jazz Legacies Fellowship is part of a $35 million commitment to the genre from the Mellon Foundation, the largest philanthropic supporter of the arts in the United States. The foundation plans to donate to the Ellis Marsalis Center in New Orleans, the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance/Belongo in New York, and The Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival, among other organizations. Jazz pianist Jason Moran – who helped design the fellowship with foundation officials and other musicians, including Terri Lyne Carrington, Christian McBride, Arturo O'Farrill, and Esperanza Spalding – said that like so many in the genre he learned from his elders. And that education often extended beyond music and the stage, though not everyone had been as lucky as him. 'What I wished for these royal beings was more of the kind of support that I feel they have offered the world, especially the musical world,' Moran said. 'I think one of the fortunate things is that we have a generation still performing the music that is still a part of this first wave. They created the language that many of us younger musicians have just accepted and kind of pulled into our own.' Joe Petrucelli, executive director of the Jazz Foundation of America, which will administer the fellowship, said it was meant to provide a bit of security in an 'unsteady and unpredictable' profession. 'There's no retirement plan,' he said. 'There's inadequate health coverage for so many. The life is just a precarious one… We want to make life easier however we can.' Petrucelli said organizers were excited to specifically help Hope, calling her plans for the fellowship 'the best-case outcome.' 'There is this idea of her as this figure of endurance and inspiration,' he said of Hope. 'There's so much affection around her and so much respect and love for her. It certainly makes sense that she's received this honor.' Hope says the fellowship validates the work that she has shared with the world and that others have seen value in it. But she is more pleased to be seen as part of jazz. 'From my point of view, jazz couldn't have been born any place else,' she said. 'It came because of slavery and because of the contact between white and Black people because they were always looking for ways to be free.' _____ The 2025 Jazz Legacies Fellows are: George Cables, 80, pianist; Valerie Capers, 89, pianist; George Coleman, 89, saxophonist; Akua Dixon, 76, cellist; Manty Ellis, 92, guitarist; Billy Hart, 84, drummer; Tom Harrell, 78, trumpeter; Bertha Hope, 88, pianist; Roger Humphries, 80, drummer; Carmen Lundy, 70, vocalist; Amina Claudine-Myers 82, pianist; Roscoe Mitchell, 84, multireedist; Johnny O'Neal, 68, pianist; Shannon Powell, 62, drummer; Julian Priester, 89, trombonist; Dizzy Reece, 94, trumpeter; Herlin Riley, 67, drummer; Michele Rosewoman, 71, pianist; Dom Salvador, 86, pianist; Reggie Workman, 87, bassist. _____ Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP's philanthropy coverage, visit
The Independent
18-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
New jazz fellowship honors the genre's elders and gives them each an unrestricted $100,000 grant
Bertha Hope was only three years old when she started playing Brahms' 'Lullaby' on the piano just from hearing it on the radio. 'How did you do that?' asked her shocked parents, both entertainers. 'That's when they really started paying attention to the fact that I had some talent that needed to be nurtured,' recalled Hope, who has used that talent to become a jazz pianist, composer and bandleader for decades. Though Hope, now 88, has toured extensively, recorded several albums and helped support the legacy of her late husband, the jazz pianist Elmo Hope, her talent still needs nurturing. And a new initiative dedicated to the preservation of jazz and the artists who helped build it plans to provide support for Hope and dozens of others. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and The Jazz Foundation of America on Tuesday announced the Jazz Legacies Fellowship -- a new $15 million program that will give 50 artists who are 62 years or older a lifetime achievement award that includes a $100,000 unrestricted grant, professional support and performance opportunities. 'It's an incredible and very humbling honor,' said Hope, who is part of the program's inaugural class of 20 fellows. 'It will change my life forever.' Like so many jazz artists, Hope has amassed influence and accolades, but not the millions that stars in other musical genres enjoy. In order to make ends meet, most jazz musicians must tour and teach more than they would like. Hope says the grant will supplement her income enough to spend some time digging through recordings made at New York's Boogie Woogie Studio, owned and operated by her second husband, jazz bassist Walter Becker, best known for his time in the bands of Sarah Vaughan and Cannonball Adderley. 'They've been in my closet for so long,' said Hope, who was proud that Boogie Woogie would let young musicians record there for free. 'I would like to see if they're worth saving.' That kind of artistic work supporting both the history and future of jazz is exactly what organizers of the Jazz Legacies Fellowship hoped it would create. 'Jazz is such an extraordinary and quintessentially American art form,' Elizabeth Alexander, president of The Mellon Foundation, told The Associated Press. ' People who are playing at the highest levels today, they can trace their genealogy right back to the people who began the art form… So we thought that jazz was at this point where, especially for its elders and its history, there was a lot that we wanted to be able to protect and support. This was the time to do it.' The Jazz Legacies Fellowship is part of a $35 million commitment to the genre from the Mellon Foundation, the largest philanthropic supporter of the arts in the United States. The foundation plans to donate to the Ellis Marsalis Center in New Orleans, the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance/Belongo in New York, and The Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival, among other organizations. Jazz pianist Jason Moran – who helped design the fellowship with foundation officials and other musicians, including Terri Lyne Carrington, Christian McBride, Arturo O'Farrill, and Esperanza Spalding – said that like so many in the genre he learned from his elders. And that education often extended beyond music and the stage, though not everyone had been as lucky as him. 'What I wished for these royal beings was more of the kind of support that I feel they have offered the world, especially the musical world,' Moran said. 'I think one of the fortunate things is that we have a generation still performing the music that is still a part of this first wave. They created the language that many of us younger musicians have just accepted and kind of pulled into our own.' Joe Petrucelli, executive director of the Jazz Foundation of America, which will administer the fellowship, said it was meant to provide a bit of security in an 'unsteady and unpredictable' profession. 'There's no retirement plan,' he said. 'There's inadequate health coverage for so many. The life is just a precarious one… We want to make life easier however we can.' Petrucelli said organizers were excited to specifically help Hope, calling her plans for the fellowship 'the best-case outcome.' 'There is this idea of her as this figure of endurance and inspiration,' he said of Hope. 'There's so much affection around her and so much respect and love for her. It certainly makes sense that she's received this honor.' Hope says the fellowship validates the work that she has shared with the world and that others have seen value in it. But she is more pleased to be seen as part of jazz. 'From my point of view, jazz couldn't have been born any place else,' she said. 'It came because of slavery and because of the contact between white and Black people because they were always looking for ways to be free.' _____ The 2025 Jazz Legacies Fellows are: George Cables, 80, pianist; Valerie Capers, 89, pianist; George Coleman, 89, saxophonist; Akua Dixon, 76, cellist; Manty Ellis, 92, guitarist; Billy Hart, 84, drummer; Tom Harrell, 78, trumpeter; Bertha Hope, 88, pianist; Roger Humphries, 80, drummer; Carmen Lundy, 70, vocalist; Amina Claudine-Myers 82, pianist; Roscoe Mitchell, 84, multireedist; Johnny O'Neal, 68, pianist; Shannon Powell, 62, drummer; Julian Priester, 89, trombonist; Dizzy Reece, 94, trumpeter; Herlin Riley, 67, drummer; Michele Rosewoman, 71, pianist; Dom Salvador, 86, pianist; Reggie Workman, 87, bassist. _____ Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP's philanthropy coverage, visit
Associated Press
18-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
New jazz fellowship honors the genre's elders and gives them each an unrestricted $100,000 grant
NEW YORK (AP) — Bertha Hope was only three years old when she started playing Brahms' 'Lullaby' on the piano just from hearing it on the radio. 'How did you do that?' asked her shocked parents, both entertainers. 'That's when they really started paying attention to the fact that I had some talent that needed to be nurtured,' recalled Hope, who has used that talent to become a jazz pianist, composer and bandleader for decades. Though Hope, now 88, has toured extensively, recorded several albums and helped support the legacy of her late husband, the jazz pianist Elmo Hope, her talent still needs nurturing. And a new initiative dedicated to the preservation of jazz and the artists who helped build it plans to provide support for Hope and dozens of others. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and The Jazz Foundation of America on Tuesday announced the Jazz Legacies Fellowship -- a new $15 million program that will give 50 artists who are 62 years or older a lifetime achievement award that includes a $100,000 unrestricted grant, professional support and performance opportunities. 'It's an incredible and very humbling honor,' said Hope, who is part of the program's inaugural class of 20 fellows. 'It will change my life forever.' Like so many jazz artists, Hope has amassed influence and accolades, but not the millions that stars in other musical genres enjoy. In order to make ends meet, most jazz musicians must tour and teach more than they would like. Hope says the grant will supplement her income enough to spend some time digging through recordings made at New York's Boogie Woogie Studio, owned and operated by her second husband, jazz bassist Walter Becker, best known for his time in the bands of Sarah Vaughan and Cannonball Adderley. 'They've been in my closet for so long,' said Hope, who was proud that Boogie Woogie would let young musicians record there for free. 'I would like to see if they're worth saving.' That kind of artistic work supporting both the history and future of jazz is exactly what organizers of the Jazz Legacies Fellowship hoped it would create. 'Jazz is such an extraordinary and quintessentially American art form,' Elizabeth Alexander, president of The Mellon Foundation, told The Associated Press. 'People who are playing at the highest levels today, they can trace their genealogy right back to the people who began the art form… So we thought that jazz was at this point where, especially for its elders and its history, there was a lot that we wanted to be able to protect and support. This was the time to do it.' The Jazz Legacies Fellowship is part of a $35 million commitment to the genre from the Mellon Foundation, the largest philanthropic supporter of the arts in the United States. The foundation plans to donate to the Ellis Marsalis Center in New Orleans, the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance/Belongo in New York, and The Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival, among other organizations. Jazz pianist Jason Moran – who helped design the fellowship with foundation officials and other musicians, including Terri Lyne Carrington, Christian McBride, Arturo O'Farrill, and Esperanza Spalding – said that like so many in the genre he learned from his elders. And that education often extended beyond music and the stage, though not everyone had been as lucky as him. 'What I wished for these royal beings was more of the kind of support that I feel they have offered the world, especially the musical world,' Moran said. 'I think one of the fortunate things is that we have a generation still performing the music that is still a part of this first wave. They created the language that many of us younger musicians have just accepted and kind of pulled into our own.' Joe Petrucelli, executive director of the Jazz Foundation of America, which will administer the fellowship, said it was meant to provide a bit of security in an 'unsteady and unpredictable' profession. 'There's no retirement plan,' he said. 'There's inadequate health coverage for so many. The life is just a precarious one… We want to make life easier however we can.' Petrucelli said organizers were excited to specifically help Hope, calling her plans for the fellowship 'the best-case outcome.' 'There is this idea of her as this figure of endurance and inspiration,' he said of Hope. 'There's so much affection around her and so much respect and love for her. It certainly makes sense that she's received this honor.' Hope says the fellowship validates the work that she has shared with the world and that others have seen value in it. But she is more pleased to be seen as part of jazz. 'From my point of view, jazz couldn't have been born any place else,' she said. 'It came because of slavery and because of the contact between white and Black people because they were always looking for ways to be free.' _____ The 2025 Jazz Legacies Fellows are: George Cables, 80, pianist; Valerie Capers, 89, pianist; George Coleman, 89, saxophonist; Akua Dixon, 76, cellist; Manty Ellis, 92, guitarist; Billy Hart, 84, drummer; Tom Harrell, 78, trumpeter; Bertha Hope, 88, pianist; Roger Humphries, 80, drummer; Carmen Lundy, 70, vocalist; Amina Claudine-Myers 82, pianist; Roscoe Mitchell, 84, multireedist; Johnny O'Neal, 68, pianist; Shannon Powell, 62, drummer; Julian Priester, 89, trombonist; Dizzy Reece, 94, trumpeter; Herlin Riley, 67, drummer; Michele Rosewoman, 71, pianist; Dom Salvador, 86, pianist; Reggie Workman, 87, bassist. _____
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Morningside University receives $500k grant for humanities research project
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) — Morningside University has received a half-million dollar grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for a research project. University officials say the money would be used for 'At Home in Siouxland – A Humanities Collaboratory for Displacement and Belonging.' The three-year project will focus on belonging within local Indigenous, settler, and immigrant communities. Northeast Nebraska teacher presented with prestigious Milken Educator Award The funds will allow the university to develop academic courses, host pedagogical workshops exploring displacement and belonging through a humanities lens, and develop academic courses. Dr. Vickie J. Larsen, PhD, will serve as the Primary Investigator and director of the project, which is set to run from 2025 to 2028. 'As a team, we will bring the study of literature, music, theater, political theory, Spanish, history, and the digital humanities to the question of how people have made our city and its region their home,' Larsen said in a statement in part. 'The community-building work of the Morningside faculty and students testifies to the vitality of the humanities in the Siouxland and American public life.' The Mellon Foundation is giving out over $14 million to 30 colleges and universities across the country as part of its 2024 Higher Learning Open Call initiative. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
