The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has announced the launch of a $35 million initiative that will boost the cultural preservation of jazz and champion luminaries of the musical genre.

The initiative includes support for scholarly and storytelling initiatives as well as partnerships with archives, clubs, and other institutions critical to preserving and amplifying jazz’s impact on future generations. The initiative includes a $15 million Jazz Legacies Fellowship founded in partnership with the Jazz Foundation of America, which over the next four years will support 50 seasoned jazz artists ages 62 and older with unrestricted grants of $100,000 and provide tailored professional and personal support, production assistance, and legal and financial counsel. The inaugural class of 20 fellows includes Valerie Capers, 89 (pianist—Bronx, New York), an artist-educator who melds classical and jazz; Roger Humphries, 81 (drummer—Pittsburgh), a jazz phenom who committed his career to nurturing his hometown scene; Amina Claudine Myers, 82 (pianist—New York City), an avant-garde artist firmly grounded in gospel and blues traditions; and Shannon Powell, 62 (drummer—New Orleans), a jazz ambassador known as the King of Tremé.

In addition, the foundation has awarded grants totaling $4 million to eight organizations regarded as critical to the art form, including the 369th Experience, which connects military and jazz history through the legacy of the Harlem Hellfighters Band; Arts for Art, which champions avant-garde jazz in New York City; the Ellis Marsalis Center, which offers vital jazz education in New Orleans; and the Philadelphia Clef Club, which aims to preserve the city’s rich jazz heritage.

“Jazz is a quintessentially American art form, central to our vast and varied American culture, and this initiative rightly and broadly honors the work of those who continue to drive the evolution of jazz while also safeguarding its histories,” said Mellon Foundation president Elizabeth Alexander. “We at Mellon are proud to join JFA in recognizing the artists, scholars, and community coalitions that continue to amplify our understanding and appreciation of this dynamic musical form and the deep generational knowledge that will accumulate from it long into the future.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/suteishi)