Free Jazz at the Sanctuary - Research

The Arts Department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Media Alliance are co-producing a 13-part series using electronic media to disseminate live performances of free jazz recorded at The Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy, NY. The recordings will be made available as CDs and DVDs, broadcast on radio and television stations throughout New York State, and streamed online to reach as broad an audience as possible. The goal: to support musicians while furthering audience appreciation of a brilliant, under-supported music form—freely improvised jazz.

This project is a partnership between the Arts Department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Media Alliance (proprietors of The Sanctuary for Independent Media). It continues a collaboration that began two years ago, which has yielded an exceptionally productive relationship matching a high-tech arts program at an elite technological university with a grassroots media arts program located in North Troy, one of the region’s most culturally rich but economically disadvantaged areas.

This project was funded in part by the New York State Music Fund.

Principal Investigators:

• Branda Miller, Professor of Arts
• Media Arts Alliance/The Sanctuary for Independent Media