Heritage Lottery Fund supports National Jazz Archive for oral history and reminiscence project

The National Jazz Archive has been awarded £83,300 by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for the Intergenerational Jazz Reminiscence Project, which will begin in January 2016.

Thanks to National Lottery players, this project will give people the opportunity to learn about and contribute to the National Jazz Archive through a programme of performance, oral history and reminiscence. It will explore how different generations have promoted, performed, supported, and documented our jazz heritage. Using materials from the Archive and from other local sources, the project will inspire members of Age UK Activity Centres, local jazz clubs, local youth groups and young jazz musicians to share and discuss what music has meant and still means in their lives.

The generation that founded jazz clubs, learned to play jazz before there was any formal musical education in jazz, and who have donated their magazines, photographs and other material to the National Jazz Archive are nearing the end of their lives. Through interviewing and recording talks and discussions at intergenerational workshops in Age UK Activity Centres the project will record and conserve the reminiscences of a generation of people who had to make considerable investment to access music. Recorded music will be a part of the workshops, with live music by young musicians at some of them.

Interviews with older jazz musicians, jazz club promoters and supporters will form a permanent record of anecdotal jazz history. The project will work with the Black Cultural Archives to encourage participation from the older black, Asian, and minority ethnic communities, including local musicians associated with these communities. Loughton Youth Project will participate in and film the sessions.

The interviews and memories collected by the project will be made available on the Archive’s website and will contribute to an exhibition celebrating the people and places that have shaped jazz music across the UK.

The National Jazz Archive will be leading the project, and will work in partnership with other specialist organisations to deliver it: Age UK, Black Cultural Archives, Chelmsford Museums Service, Essex University, Loughton Youth Project, the Open University, and local jazz clubs.

“This is a great result for a magnificent team effort. The HLF award is a tremendous endorsement of the National Jazz Archive. It recognises and builds on the success achieved by our first HLF project ‘The Story of British Jazz’, and presents a wonderful opportunity to develop our relationship with a broad range of new and existing partners. It also enables us to further develop the Archive and to increase access to and public engagement with our important collections.”, said Paul Kaufman, Chair of the Trustees of the National Jazz Archive.

“I’m delighted that the Archive is continuing to extend its work through this exciting project, which will record and capture so many personal recollections and stories. It’s very pleasing that so many levels of expertise and skills will be involved, with participants from young to old.” (Digby Fairweather, founder and lifelong patron of the Archive, jazz trumpeter, author and broadcaster.)

“This project is a great example of the breadth of heritage supported by National Lottery players. We’re really pleased that our funding will allow more people to explore and learn about this fascinating and important archive.”  (Robyn Llewellyn, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund East of England)

About the National Jazz Archive

The National Jazz Archive is a registered charity based in Loughton Library in Essex. It was founded in 1988 by Digby Fairweather, and holds the UK’s finest collection of written, printed and visual material on jazz, blues and related music, from the 1919 to the present day. The Archive holds more than 4000 reference books, specialist periodicals and bulletins spanning over 600 titles, archival material, artwork, ephemera and photographs. It is open on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 10am to 1pm.

The Archive's vision is to ensure that significant jazz material should be safeguarded for future generations of enthusiasts, professionals and researchers. The Archive received a Heritage Lottery Fund grant in 2011 that supported a three-year access development project ‘The Story of British Jazz’ enabling the collection to be fully conserved and catalogued for the first time. Significant items were digitised and are now accessible online.

• The National Jazz Archive, Loughton Library, Traps Hill, Loughton, Essex IG10 1HD
• www.nationaljazzarchive.org.uk          
• www.facebook.com/nationaljazzarchive          
• @JazzArchive

About the Heritage Lottery Fund

Thanks to National Lottery players, we invest money to help people across the UK explore, enjoy and protect the heritage they care about - from the archaeology under our feet to the historic parks and buildings we love, from precious memories and collections to rare wildlife.

• www.hlf.org.uk                        
• @heritagelottery         
• @HLFEoE

 
 

National Jazz Archive Goes Digital

National Jazz Archive

Archives are hip! Far from being dreary, dusty places, they now have digital content as well as valuable old archival resources.

Especially the National Jazz Archive! We've just heard about about the completion of a big project to digitize numerous journals, photos, posters and programmes for direct access via the redesigned website, which includes a timeline of British jazz, over 360 interviews, and cross-curricular learning resources.

Sounds perfect for our jazz students, doesn't it? 

Visit the National Jazz Archive Website:- http://www.nationaljazzarchive.co.uk/

Here's the full story:-

Success for National Jazz Archive ‘Story of British Jazz’ project The extensive resources of the National Jazz Archive have been opened up by a project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The successful three-year project ‘The Story of British Jazz’ has significantly improved public access to the National Jazz Archive’s rich and diverse holdings and reinforced its position as the principal national resource for jazz heritage in the UK.

Key achievements:-

• storing and conserving more than 40,000 archive items (journals, photos, posters and programmes;
• cataloguing more than 4300 books;
•  cataloguing more than 600 journals along with 36 personal and seven photo collections;
• scanning and digitising numerous journals, photos, posters and programmes for direct access via the redesigned website, which includes a timeline of British jazz, over 360 interviews, and cross-curricular learning resources;
• organising more than 30 talks, open days, exhibitions, concerts, community events and family activities; training volunteers in storage, preservation and cataloguing skills.

 Lesley Walker, Project Monitor for the Heritage Lottery Fund, said: “Over the past three years I have watched the National Jazz Archive develop into an active and lively organisation with properly catalogued and managed collections, reaching out to a much wider audience including their local communities. There is now a greater awareness within and beyond the jazz community of the Archive and its activities and ‘The Story of British Jazz’ makes the collection accessible to people everywhere.”

The National Jazz Archive is a registered charity based in Loughton Library in Essex. It holds the UK’s finest collection of written, printed and visual material on jazz, blues and related music, from the 1919 to the present day. The Archive holds more than 4000 reference books, specialist periodicals and bulletins spanning over 600 titles, archival material, artwork, ephemera and photographs.

It is open on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 10am to 1pm.

The Archive’s vision is to ensure that significant jazz material is safeguarded for future generations of enthusiasts, professionals and researchers.

National Jazz Archive seeks Trustees

This posting is being made to help the National Jazz Archive, which is seeking two Trustees:

            a) a Treasurer
            b) someone with a good understanding of IT

The National Jazz Archive

The Archive holds the UK's finest collection of written, printed and visual material on jazz, blues and related music, from the 1920s to the present day. It was founded in 1988 with support from Essex County Council and a group of jazz professionals and devotees, and is a registered charity.

The Archive's vision is to ensure that significant jazz material should be safeguarded for future generations of enthusiasts, professionals and researchers. The Heritage Lottery Fund awarded the Archive a three year grant in autumn 2011 to tell the Story of British Jazz through four key themes: people, places, watershed moments and social and cultural dimensions. This is enabling the collection to be fully conserved and catalogued for the first time. Significant items are being digitised and made accessible online. The funding is also facilitating a community programme of events, family activities and opportunities for volunteers; and attendance at UK jazz festivals and events is raising the Archive's profile as the UK's foremost jazz research resource.

Treasurer

The National Jazz Archive is seeking a Treasurer to oversee the Archive’s financial matters in line with good practice and in accordance with the governing document and legal requirements, and report to the Board of Trustees about the financial health of the organisation. The Treasurer will ensure that effective financial measures, controls and procedures are put in place, and are appropriate for the charity.

Someone with a good understanding of IT

The National Jazz Archive is seeking someone with technical skills, whether it be systems admin skills or more generally familiarity with data standards and web technologies. They need day-to-day support with basic stuff, although networking knowledge and knowledge of Gmail systems would be useful. They will be looking to the IT Trustee to help the organisation continue its development of IT systems and applications and develop their online presence, and to keep their infrastructure intact; this will mean an understanding of the kit, software and networks they operate.

For both posts it would be helpful if you have an understanding of archives, jazz and/or cultural heritage.

To discuss either post, please email Angela Davies at adavies@nationaljazzarchive.org.uk with your telephone number. Angela will put you in touch with a Trustee, who will then phone you to tell you more about the post and to answer your questions.

The Jazz Archive would like applications by letter, saying why you’re interested in one or other of the posts and setting out your relevant experience that you’d bring to the NJA. Please send this to Angela by post to the address below or by email as above by 6 January 2014.

National Jazz Archive

The National Jazz Archive has just received a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Dame Cleo Laine announces. 


The UK’s finest collection of material detailing the history of Jazz and Blues is to be transformed thanks to an award of £346,300.

The National Jazz Archive tells the story of Jazz and Blues in the UK through photographs, printed articles, memorabilia, artworks and personal papers donated by leading musicians including Mike Westbrook and Ian Carr. The collection is based at Loughton Library in Essex, housing more than 3,000 books, periodicals and bulletins covering over 600 titles.  The Archive was founded in 1988 by Digby Fairweather.


The HLF award will mean that this varied and wide-ranging collection can be fully conserved and catalogued for the first time.

• Many of the photographs and documents will be made available on a new “Story of British Jazz” website, hosting sound files not only of music but also recordings of iconic British jazz figures' memories. 
• New exhibitions to be held at Jazz venues and festivals around the country
• Some of the biggest winners from today’s announcement will be the next generation of British Jazz musicians, benefiting from new opportunities to enjoy this fascinating collection.
• Find out more about the NJA here.