Pitt Jazz Seminar and Concert
Jazz Talk with Nicole Mitchell, Episode 2: Racial Equity in Jazz and Jazz Education
7:00pm EST Click Here to view stream.
Panelists: Nicole Mitchell (Host); Gail Austin; Ayana Contreras; and Willard Jenkins
Gail Austin is a retired higher education administrator formerly employed by the University of Pittsburgh for 42 years in the School of Arts and Sciences. She administered several programs targeting African American student success until her retirement in 2012. S
Currently she is the Managing Director of the Kente Arts Alliance which is a 501c 3 non-profit African American arts organization which formed in 2007.
Ayana Contreras
Ayana Contreras is a cultural historian, DJ and archivist. An avid collector of vintage vinyl records, she hosts the Reclaimed Soul program on WBEZ and Vocalo Radio in Chicago. She is a columnist for DownBeat, and her book on Post-Civil Rights Era cultural history in Black Chicago, titled Energy Never Dies, is forthcoming.
Nicole Mitchell (Host)
Nicole Mitchell is an award-winning creative flutist, composer, bandleader and educator. She initially emerged from Chicago’s innovative music scene in the late 90s, where she became a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) and eventually served as the first woman president. Mitchell is the William S. Dietrich II Endowed Chair in Jazz Studies and the Director of Jazz Studies at University of Pittsburgh.
Willard Jenkins
Willard Jenkins is an independent arts consultant, concerts and festival’s artistic director/curator, producer, writer and editor under his Open Sky banner. Willard Jenkins’ current activity includes festival, and concert series planning/development, artistic direction/curating, arts organization and artist consulting, music journalism/editing, teaching, and broadcast work.