U.S. CONGRESSMAN JOHN CONYERS FIGHTING FOR JAZZ

Democratic U.S. Congressman John Conyers Jr. has put forth legislation to establish a national jazz preservation program in conjunction with the Smithsonian’s Institution's National Museum of American History.

Conyers has always been a large supporter of jazz from the creating the Jazz Issue Forum and Concert in 1985, which, each year, "explores a different aspect of the jazz experience in order to promote a better understanding  of the diversity and vibrancy of this music as a dynamic cultural phenomenon within our society," and introducing the House resolution in 2009, honouring the 50th anniversary of Miles Davis' Kind of Blue and reaffirming the album as a national treasure.
The National Jazz Preservation and Education Act of 2011 will, if passed, have a number of components.

It would create "oral and video histories of leading jazz artists, acquire, preserve and interpret artifacts, conduct exhibitions and other educational activities that would enable generations of Americans to learn about and enjoy jazz."

Other aspects would include a "Jazz Artists in the Schools" program which would, as its name suggests, bring jazz artists to American schools, and an "Ambassadors of Jazz" program which would send jazz musicians abroad on  "missions of goodwill, education and cultural exchange to perform for diverse audiences."
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