KPLU's School of Jazz Project Wins National Education Innovation Award

KPLU's School of Jazz Project Wins National Education Innovation Award

Seattle-Tacoma, WA – School of Jazz, 88.5 KPLU’s annual mentoring project benefiting local high school jazz bands, is in its sixth year. On March 22, KPLU received a My Source Education Innovation Award from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) in Washington, D.C. to help the station advance the project. The My Source Education Innovation Awards recognize and showcase how public broadcasting stations use pioneering approaches and emerging digital technologies to serve the educational needs of their communities on-air, online and in the classroom.

Pat Harrison, president and CEO of CPB, presented the award to Beverly James, School of Jazz Project Manager and KPLU’s Underwriting Manager, at the Council of Chief State School Officers/Public Media Executive Summit. KPLU will receive a $3,000 grant to further support the project.

“Stations across the country are using technology in creative and innovative ways to deliver educational tools and resources that are making a real difference to teachers, parents and children,” said Harrison. “Public media is the definitive education partner for a new generation of learners and CPB congratulates KPLU for its outstanding contribution to the community.”

In 2005, KPLU received a generous grant from The Boeing Company to develop a new and creative project in which to engage music students where they would learn and grow while at the same time, financially benefit school music programs in Western Washington. KPLU School of Jazz provides mentors in the form of local professional jazz musicians to 12 local high schools, culminating in the bands and their mentors performing together on a CD. To date, nearly $50,000 has been raised through CD sales at participating high school and at retail outlets.

KPLU General Manager Paul Stankavich said, “One way to describe KPLU’s mentoring project is ‘audience development.’ We hear from several of the students at each year’s recording sessions who say they listen to KPLU and in some cases, our jazz programming has inspired them to pursue playing jazz, themselves.”

KPLU School of Jazz – Volume 6 will be released May 18, 2010. More information on the project is available at our School of Jazz page.