The Jeff Marx Jazz Award
A direct monetary award to the student. This is a $1,000 award intended for Jazz Studies Program students who demonstrate financial need and academic excellence. The award is intended to support diversity and equity in the Jazz Studies Program and was created by Todd Weinstein and friends of Jeff Marx. https://jeffmarxmusic.com
We invite you to share in our excitement and we encourage you to participate by helping to bring this important project to fruition. You can donate online now at https://bardian.bard.edu/register/bcf or send a check, payable to Bard College with “Jeff Marx Award” in the memo, to:
Bard College
ATTN: Sasha Boak-Kelly
PO Box 5000
Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504
Larry McLeod Award In Jazz
An award established by the family and friends of Larry McLeod '76 and given annually to a
student, not necessarily a music major, who has done much to keep the sound of Jazz going at
Bard.
Nesuhi Ertegun Scholars in Music
Scholarships established in memory of Nesuhi Ertegun, who made a great contribution to
American music and to Jazz in particular, and awarded annually to qualified and deserving
students with a serious interest in music, especially Jazz and Black American music.
The Bethesda Blues & Jazz Youth Orchestra
Website: https://www.bbj-youthorchestra.org/
The Bard Jazz Studies Program became affiliated with the Bethesda Blues and Jazz Youth Orchestra in the Fall of 2020 in order to provide masterclasses and mentoring by our faculty and instructors for the young musicians. We hope to create a pathway for interested members of the Bethesda Blues and Jazz Youth Orchestra to attend Bard and join our program.
The Bethesda Blues and Jazz Youth Orchestra’s mission is to provide an educational environment and opportunity for young musicians to experience and perform Jazz music.
Bethesda Blues and Jazz Youth Orchestra (BBJYO) was created as a partnership between Bethesda Blues and Jazz Foundation, and Jazz Encounters in April, 2017. BBJYO rehearses in the historical Bethesda Theatre. The Bethesda Theatre was built in 1938 as an art deco movie theater. It is now registered as a national historic site. Home to Bethesda Blues and Jazz Supper Club, the space is a 500 seat live music venue.
BBJYO comprises 20 brilliant musicians from the ages of 11-17. Our students have the opportunity to play with some of the greatest Jazz players and Jazz bands performing today.
Since its founding in 2017, the group has performed with the Grammy award winning Bassist Ben Williams (Downbeat 2017 Critics Poll Winner, Bass), the Grammy nominated Count Basie Orchestra, the award winning vibraphonist Warren Wolf (Downbeat 2017 Critics Poll Winner, Vibraphone), the Grammy nominated Jazz vocalist Freddy Cole, a award winning pianist Sullivan Fortner (Downbeat 2019 Critics Poll Winner, Rising Star Piano), and award winning trumpeter Sean Jones.
The BBJYO rehearses in the historic Bethesda Theatre under the direction of trumpeter and music educator, Kenny Rittenhouse, and pianist and music educator, Bob Murad.
The Bard Prison Initiative
Website: https://bpi.bard.edu/
The Bard Prison Initiative extends the full breadth and depth of the Bard College liberal arts curriculum into six New York State prisons. Its story is told in the Emmy-nominated four-part PBS documentary College Behind Bars.
Jazz faculty members including Thurman Barker, Angelica Sanchez, Marcus Roberts, and Roland Vasquez have taught and Bard Jazz students have performed at Eastern Correctional, Woodbourne Correctional, and Coxsackie Correctional facilities.
Bard Early College
Website: https://bhsec.bard.edu/
Bard Early College is a multi-campus network of Bard College established to provide adolescents in American public school systems with the chance to go farther and faster than the status quo allows. Bard Early College serves approximately 3,000 students at seven degree-granting campuses and a growing number of partnership programs through which students can complete up to one year of college.
Bard NYC
Website: https://bardnyc.bard.edu/
Bard NYC is an innovative study away program for undergraduates eager to gain practical work experience in New York City. Students get a head start on their transition from college to career by combining interdisciplinary coursework, a professional internship, and cocurricular programming. A new dormitory in Williamsburg, Brooklyn offers students a multicultural coliving community, onsite classrooms, and access to the entire city from a convenient location.
Bard NYC currently offers study paths focused on the arts, international affairs (BGIA), economics/finance, and media/publishing/journalism.
Help Our People
Website: https://helpourpeople.me/
Help Our People Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charitable humanitarian organization dedicated to supporting and lifting up those in need. We are an independent group of civic-minded private citizens committed to providing scholarships for disabled aspiring musicians to prepare them for lives of purpose. We are a school without walls.
In addition, we seek to inspire and support select students confronted with homelessness and other forms of significant trauma to continue to pursue higher education with counseling and financial assistance. We are passionately determined to rekindle hope in the hearts and minds of families and individuals in need by reaffirming that they are not alone as they work to stabilize and improve their circumstances. Our ongoing projects support food pantries, community centers, churches, government assistance programs and individual families.
We believe in the power of community and collective action, and welcome the opportunity to explore partnership opportunities with like-minded organizations, groups or individuals who have similar interests.