The International Association for Jazz Education

The International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE) will inhabit the Canadian metropolis of Toronto when it returns for the 35th Annual Conference from January 9-12, 2008. The conference was held in Toronto for the first time in 2003. Widely considered as one of the most diverse cities in the world, Toronto has much to offer IAJE conference participants. It is a cosmopolitan city with a vibrant nightlife, a strong jazz community, and a major scene for music, theatre, performing arts and architectural attractions such as the CN Tower and the Distillery District. The Fairmount Royal York, Toronto Sheraton and Intercontinental Hotels along with the Metro Toronto Convention Centre will serve as the headquarters for the largest annual gathering of the global jazz community.

Upwards of 7,000 educators, musicians, record executives, exhibitors, media, students and enthusiasts are expected to attend the 35th Annual IAJE Conference. In 2009, Seattle is set to host IAJE for the first time; New York City is committed to host again in 2010. Then, IAJE heads down to the Big Easy in 2011 when it returns for a second time to New Orleans.
Education, teacher training and outreach will be firmly at the heart of the four-day conference agenda that will also feature Canada's most respected and influential jazz performing artists. With the variety of clinics, concerts, and a 70,000 square-foot music industry exposition with something for everyone, the 2008 IAJE conference program promises to be one of the strongest conferences yet.

On Wednesday, January 9 at 6pm, conference highlights begin with the 8th Annual IAJE Gala Dinner, hosted by Nancy Wilson. Manchester Craftsmen's Guild founder Bill Strickland is set to receive the Lawrence Berk Leadership Award, and the 2008 IAJE Presidents Award will be presented to Senator Tommy Banks and Paquito D'Rivera. Proceeds from the ticketed event will benefit the IAJE Campaign for Jazz.

On Friday, January 11 at 8pm, the IAJE Conference will host the 2008 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Jazz Masters Awards Concert in the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. The NEA Jazz Masters award is the nation's highest honor in this distinctly American art form. Each recipient is set to receive a $25,000 fellowship, and the opportunity to participate in other promotional and performance activities. Sadly, one of the 2008 honorees, renowned pianist and composer Andrew Hill, was notified of his receipt of the award shortly before his death. Hill spent 40 years composing, performing, recording, and mentoring young musicians. He earned acclaim for his innovative performances and compositions beginning in the 1960s.

In addition to Hill, the 2008 NEA Jazz Masters are: rhythm instrumentalist Candido Camero; bandleader Quincy Jones; composer-arranger Tom McIntosh; trumpeter Joe Wilder and the A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Master Award for Jazz Advocacy is being given to classical and jazz composer-arranger Gunther Schuller. The NEA, in partnership with the Canadian Council for the Arts, will also give a special award to Dr. Oscar Peterson for his unique role as a Canadian Jazz Master. The awards concert will feature performances by Kurt Elling and the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra conducted by David Baker. The concert and ceremony will be open to all registered attendees.

Other artists scheduled to perform at the 2008 IAJE Conference include: Aaron Goldberg Trio featuring Eric Harland & Reuben Rogers, Altsys Jazz Orchestra with guest saxophonist Donny McCaslin, Art of Jazz Orchestra with Kevin Mahogany, Barry Romberg's Random Access Large Ensemble, Christian Scott, Christine Jensen Quintet, Clay Jenkins, Convergence, Courtney Pine, Darcy James Argue's Secret Society North, Davidson/Murley/Braid Quintet (DMBQ), Deborah J. Carter Quartet, Dennis Rollins' Badbone & Co., Denny Zeitlin Solo Piano, Empirical, Esperanza Spalding, Francois Houle Octet, Gabriel Alegria's Afro-Peruvian Jazz Sextet, Gregoire Maret & Andy Milne Duo, Heinrich von Kalnein Songlines, Jacqui Naylor, Joel Harrison and Harbor, Jovino Santos Neto Trio, Kenny Werner & Roseanna Vitro, Les Projectionnistes, Lionel Loueke, MB3, Martin Taylor's Freternity, Marty Ehrlich & Myra Melford Duo, New York Voices with Paquito D'Rivera, Nimmons 'n' Nine Now!, Nordic Connect, Ralph Bowen, Sachal Vasandani, Sofia Koutsovitis, The Delirium Blues Project featuring the NYU Student All-Stars, The Tierney Sutton Band, Tim Posgate Hornband featuring Howard Johnson, Tommy Smith National Youth Jazz Orchestra, Toru Dodo Trio, Valeria Matzner, and many more.

The conference will feature over 100 performances by internationally recognized artists and school groups and includes daily concerts featuring professional jazz artists representing the diversity of jazz worldwide, the IAJE Sisters In Jazz Collegiate All-Stars, the Clifford Brown/Stan Getz All-Stars, Community College All-Star Student Big Band, and a number of outstanding school ensembles from around the world. Other conference highlights include the Montreux Jazz Festival Competition winners; the world premieres of the works of the ASCAP, Gil Evans, and SOCAN award winners; research paper presentations; and pre-conference workshops to provide training and development for IAJE volunteer leaders and chapter officers.

WBGO Jazz 88 FM, CBC Radio and Jazz FM 91 are the IAJE Conference host radio stations that will broadcast daily from the site.

The 2008 IAJE Conference Industry Track will focus on career development, new media, the recording industry, and personalized consultation. These insightful and sometimes controversial panels and workshops are geared to members of the jazz recording, journalism, presenting, performing, retail, and radio industries. With sponsorship and support from JazzTimes, Jazziz, Down Beat, JazzWeek, the NEA, NARAS, the Jazz Journalists Association, Jazz FM 91 and DL Media, the Industry Track will provide an opportunity for industry members, jazz educators, and musicians to interact with each other in a series of sessions that encourage an honest exchange of ideas and strategies for the future.

Among the Industry Track highlights, one-on-one interviews with Paul Bley and Candido Camero, Dr. Billy Taylor interviews Roy Haynes, Kurt Elling interviews Jon Hendricks, and A.B. Spellman interviews the 2008 NEA Jazz Masters.

All U.S. citizens will be required to have a passport to re-enter the United States. Please allow at least six weeks for the processing of a new passport. Visit the U.S. State Department web site to learn more and obtain an application. For travel from other countries, please contact your home country's Department of Foreign Affairs, Identity and Passport Service, or Department of Internal or Home Affairs.

Theatre Ontario Announces Festival 2007 Award Winners

Theatre Ontario Announces Festival 2007 Award Winners

Theatre Ontario Festival 2007 came to a successful close on Sunday. Awards were presented to the best in Ontario community theatre productions, and to six individuals who were recognized for their contribution to community theatre across the province. This year's festival, celebrating the 35th anniversary of Theatre Ontario, was supported by a $19,200 grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF). Frank Klees, MPP for Oak Ridges, joined OTF representative Helen Ching-Kircher in congratulating Theatre Ontario at the Festival's opening ceremonies on Wednesday night.

"We are privileged and proud to have the Theatre Ontario Festival 2007 here in Newmarket delivering such high level performing excellence," said MPP Klees.
The Festival, hosted by Theatre Ontario and the Association of Community Theatres of Central Ontario (ACT-CO), represents the finals of an Ontario-wide drama competition, and features four outstanding productions from across the province. Participating in Theatre Ontario Festival 2007 were several hundred people, and four dynamic productions:

Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee, presented by East Side Players, Toronto (representing the Association of Community Theatres – Central Ontario)
Kiss The Moon, Kiss The Sun by Norm Foster, presented by Gore Bay Theatre (representing the Quebec-Ontario Theatre Association)
All My Sons by Arthur Miller, presented by Domino Theatre, Kingston (representing the Eastern Ontario Drama League)
Ethan Claymore by Norm Foster, presented by London Community Players (representing the Western Ontario Drama League)
Domino Theatre of Kingston was awarded the Elsie for Outstanding Production.

Please click here for a full list of award recipients.

The OTF grant funded a special staged reading of two plays: Drew Hayden Taylor's 400 Kilometres and Norm Foster's Jenny's House Of Joy, followed by a panel discussion on "Breaking Down Barriers." The grant also funded a workshop for community theatres on recruitment and retention of volunteers, facilitated by Jane Gardner, General Manager of the Blyth Festival, and Cameron Smillie, arts consultant.

The five-day festival, chaired by Andrea Emmerton of Theatre Ontario and Maureen Lukie of ACT-CO, also featured a workshop on "Transactional Approach For Actors" led by adjudicator Brian Van Norman; a play reading by Norm Foster (sponsored by The Canada Council for the Arts and Playwrights Guild of Canada); and Theatre Ontario's Annual General Meeting.
In recognition of the 35th anniversary, the Michael Spence Awards were also presented at the ceremonies. These awards are given every five years to individuals from each of the five community theatre regions of Ontario for their outstanding contribution to their region within the past thirty-five years. The recipients were Gabe Ferrazzo of Thunder Bay, Val Hadley of Sarnia, Maureen Lukie of Toronto, Beth McMaster of Peterborough, and Kenneth Stephen of Elliot Lake. A sixth Award was presented to Richard Howard of Sault Ste. Marie, as a professional who has contributed both financially and artistically to the development of theatre across the province.

Each year, Theatre Ontario also celebrates the achievements of Ontario-based individuals who have made a sustained and significant contribution to the development of theatre in the province, by awarding the Maggie Bassett Award. Yvette Nolan, the recipient of the 2007 Maggie Bassett Award was recognized at Sunday's award ceremony.
Theatre Ontario Festival 2008 will be held in North Bay, Ontario.

The Ontario Trillium Foundation, an agency of the Ministry of Culture, receives funds from the government’s charity casino initiative.

The Arts and Toronto:

Art runs in the Thomson family, more than once!

A Thomson Retrospective premieres works by Margaret & George Thomson, siblings of the renowned Canadian legend, Tom Thomson. The John A Libby Fine Art Gallery unveils collective works on Thursday, December 7, 2006 from 7:00 to 10:00pm.

TORONTO, Dec. 5 /CNW/ - For the first time works by Tom Thomson's
lesser-known siblings, George and Margaret will be on display and available
for sale at Libby's from Thursday December 9 through Saturday, December 23.
George Thomson LLB, O.S.A., 1868 - 1965 was the first of the ten Thomson
children. A lawyer, teacher and entrepreneur he began to paint seriously in
1906, while studying in New York at The Art Students League. His art works
were accepted at the National Academy of Design and the Art Institute of
Chicago. Upon his return to Canada, he began painting full time and made a
name for himself here. By 1964 his works were in the collections of the
National Gallery of Canada and the Art Gallery of Ontario. George never tried
to imitate his brother Tom as he thought himself more conventional and
believed artists should paint to their own temperament. The day before he
died, George was out sketching with his brother Fraser at Lion's Head and
Barrow Bay Ontario. He was 97 years old and the oldest practicing professional
artist in Canada.

Margaret Thomson Tweedale 1884 - 1979 was the ninth of the ten children
and also taught before pursuing painting. She spent much of her life in
Toronto near High Park. The shared pain of her brother Tom's death brought the
siblings closer together. In 1926 George, Frazer, and Margaret began taking
traditional spring and fall painting expeditions. Margaret created a small
body of charming landscapes during those years, and we are excited to reunite
her pictures with those of her brothers George and Frazer. Their more famous
sibling Tom would surely be proud!

"We are delighted to exhibit these works for Canadian Art collectors and
enthusiasts," says John A Libby, President "the Thomson family made a
significant contribution to the Canadian Art scene and it is a pleasure to
present these fine paintings." The exhibition continues until December 23,
2006.

About John A. Libby Fine Art Gallery

Libby's art gallery was established in 1978 at 463 King Street, Toronto.
The art business has developed over the years to encompass all aspects of art
collecting to service the growing needs of Libby's clientele. This called for
the forming of Libby's Print and Frame Gallery, Master's Studio of Fine
Restoration, and Trillium Press Limited Edition Prints. John A. Libby is
President of the Canadian Association of Personal Property Appraisers. For
more information, please visit our website at www.libbygallery.com
Shows: Gallery shows are held eight months of the year including living
artists and shows specializing in historical art.

Publications: A series of collector booklets have been published by us,
and include: "George and Margaret Thomson," "Manly MacDonald," "Joachim
Gauthier," "Julius Griffith," "Fred S. Haines" These booklets are available
for sale at the gallery.

For further information: Maria Hazel, Gallery Director, (416) 364-3730