The Jazz Institute of Chicago serves as a foundation of support for the creation of new jazz music, sustaining active artists, nurturing new talent and developing new audiences for jazz, especially for Chicago jazz artists. We do this by supporting jazz education in the schools through our Jazz Links programs which were created by building partnerships with Chicago Public School teachers and the Board of Education. We provide mentorship of young players outside of schools, commissioning new work and expanding performance opportunities through the concerts and festivals we program throughout the year. As a central resource for Chicago’s jazz community we have been an important economic and artistic engine for jazz in Chicago for over 40 years; programming the 34 year-old Chicago Jazz Festival and the 8-year-old Made in Chicago: World Class Jazz concert series at the request of the City and partnering with the Chicago Park District for the 15 year-old JazzCity concert series which brings Chicago's stellar talent right into the neighborhoods for free. In 2006 a partnership began with Estrada Poznanska in Poznan, Poland to produce an annual Made in Chicago in Poland festival, bringing 14 artists from Chicago to present 6 concerts over three days.

In fact we have been architects of an infrastructure that supports our community’s activities, hopes and dreams by providing a center of gravity for our community to be productive and thrive through performance, education, advocacy for and access to jazz.