Program areas at JFA
Disaster Relief: Direct support for the musician community following catastrophic events. From Hurricane Katrina to Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria, and Ida our team is on the ground as soon as possible and to help with relief and recovery. Our social workers and case managers find out first-hand what needs to be replaced and repaired. We go home to home and offer emotional support and provide basic necessities like food, emergency supplies, and clothes for children. We replace instruments and equipment, help with car repairs, and enlist professionals to decontaminate houses to ensure a families safety. Musicians are already vulnerable before disaster strikes. They live paycheck to paycheck and things critical to their livelihood, like instruments and studio equipment, are kept at home. One flood can derail a lifetime of work, leaving great artists with nowhere to turn. This relief effort includes creating community concerts in places where work opportunities are limited for musicians due to disasters. These concerts also provide a healing experience for audiences who have experienced shared shock, loss, and trauma. During the pandemic, JFA's COVID-19 Musicians' Emergency Fund has extended support to thousands of musicians for assistance with basic necessities like rent payments, utility bills, and groceries. JFA provided support in 1701 unique cases to musicians and their families in 2022 via our disaster relief efforts.
Musicians' Emergency Fund/Housing and Emergency Assistance: Preventing homelessness and evictions for musicians in need and assisting with rent, mortgages, transportation, utilities and other essential living expenses. Most musicians have no savings, they rarely get paid properly, and they live gig to gig. For example, if someone cant work because theyve had an accident and are now behind in their rent, we pay their rent and/or utilities to keep them from eviction. We also make sure there is enough food on the table and even go to the hospital with them for treatment if they are alone. In other crisis situations, we are needed to repair or replace instruments so that musicians can keep working. Whatever the situation calls for, we address the need through compassion and counseling from our social work team. JFA looks at the whole person and sees the long- and short-term challenges. This can include making home visits to an elderly person who is alone and even connecting them with younger musicians they can mentor who check in and help care for them. We also make calls after business hours to let them know they are not forgotten. Sometimes we uncover the root of someones depression or help reconnect them with estranged family members. Every case is special and needs more than what it first presents. Whatever the situation, we heal it as best we can with love, a helping hand, and some creativity. JFA assisted in 1,693 unique cases through the Musicians' Emergency Fund in 2022.
Jazz and Blues in the Schools/Creating Employment: Dignified work that keeps the music alive. Most often, the best way to help blues, jazz, and roots musicians in crisis is to keep them working. Musicians who used to play six nights a week now have few or no options. The Jazz and Blues in the Schools program continues to be a vital source of income and optimism for our legendary elders. JITS serves multiple purposes: 1) providing dignified work for artists to continue doing what they love most; 2) presenting live music to underserved audiences at a variety of community venues and creating access to enrichment and entertainment; and preserving the legacy of jazz and blues through concerts by veteran audiences reaching new listeners. Many of the thousands of young attending their concerts have never heard live music. By sharing this music at schools that otherwise have limited access to arts and enrichment, we can help to build future audiences. In a digital world, this interaction provides the opportunity to learn how music is actually made. Through Jazz and Blues in the Schools, musicians feel alive with purpose, sharing their life stories with hundreds of new fans and passing on valuable lessons about the history and practice of blues, jazz, and roots music. JFA created 2,503 paid work opportunities for musicians in need through the Jazz and Blues in the Schools Program in 2022.