HOWARD BANKHEAD
Blog: August 2013
True Diversity And Multiculturalism
Benefits Youth Development
Huntsville’s Tennessee Valley Jazz Society 27th Annual Jazz-N-June Festival Benefiting Youth Development, was one of the best in its brief 27 years history! The success of Jazz-N-June was due to diverse attractions, diverse activities and diverse audiences!
This blog is to briefly share with you the recent successes of the Tennessee Valley Jazz Society and its annual Jazz-N-June jazz festival and the activities that made the success possible.
As Anthony Cook the Community News Director for AL.com/Huntsville Times recently wrote “Huntsville is a great place to live”. Anthony was talking about other activities that the area is known for such as the Marshall Space Flight Center and NASA. I will agree with him because of the success of the recent Tennessee Valley Jazz Society’s activities including: the commitment of NEA Jazz Master Ellis Marsalis, world renown educator and matriarch of the famed Marsalis family, to help the jazz society develop its jazz studies program: the milestone of presenting Jazz Education-is-cool-in-the-schools to over 31,000 students, facility and staff for International Jazz Day April 30, 2013 and a successful Jazz-N-June festival.
True diversity is reaching out and connecting with different age groups, racial backgrounds, economic and educational levels and geographic locations. Jazz-N-June reached ages from 4 to 84; Asians, Hispanics, white and Black populations; citizens from varies economic backgrounds and activities that took place in libraries, community centers, night clubs, state parks and a golf course.
Historically, in the early 20th century, jazz musicians were the first group to break the color barriers when white and Black people were not allowed to work, live, play or worship together. I am honored to carry on the multicultural courage and attitudes that the early jazz musicians had. However, I do it through golf and jazz.
I am often asked what jazz has to do with golf. My reply is golf and jazz share similar values such as respect, integrity, and perseverance. In addition there is art and science in both golf and jazz music.
Lastly, I want our youth to be exposed to and be familiar with the best things of life. Jazz is one of the world’s highest art forms and we know that golf is a game of the rich and powerful. I want youth of all social stratifications to appreciate the art form of jazz and the intrinsic values of golf.
The Jazz-N-June Festival Free Community Golf Day was a new project that I had wanted to add to the annual jazz festival for years. The community golf day was added to the festival outreach activities.
The community golf day consisted of a youth session, ages 6-18 @ 9AM, and a seniors and adult session @ 4PM. The free golf clinics and instructions were held on the driving range and putting green at the Huntsville Municipal Golf Course.
I added golf because of my diversity theme to expand the jazz festival into other areas, it was also “Good for the Game” and the “Growth of the Game”. In past years my program received grants from the USGA for its “Good for the Game” initiative and the PGA of America for its “Growth of the Game” initiative.
The only challenges were to encourage more African American youth serving agencies to participate in the golf clinic and the art & science symposium (which was another unique activity for a jazz festival). A pictorial and narrative of the jazz festival will be posted on the jazz website @ www.tvjs.webs.com
Next year we plan on including along with the community golf day a a Jazz-N-June Festival Golf Tournament (or Challenge).
The Tennessee Valley Jazz Society’s (TVJS) mission is to sponsor and encourage artistic excellence, sporting skills and health awareness. The Tennessee Valley Youth Golf Development’s (TVYGD) (a subsidiary of TVJS) purpose is to positively affect the lives of youth, ages 6-18, by providing access to learning/training facilities and educational programs that encourages fitness, etiquette and academics thru life & golf skills.
In order to grow and continue the success of TVYGD and TVJS, we ask for your love, support and donations!
Howard Bankhead
Executive Director
Tennessee Valley Youth Golf Development
604 Jordan Lane
Huntsville, AL 35816 USA
256-604-8172
