SAN FRANCISCO (Dec. 2)-- The Jazz Heritage Center, San Franciscos only permanent cultural and educational complex dedicated to jazz, announced that it will be holding its first exhibition, Harlem of the West Revisited.
Beginning Dec. 6, 2008 and lasting until March 7, 2009, the Jazz Heritage Center will feature art and photography from The Fillmore bustling jazz era of the 1940s and 1950s. This free exhibit celebrates a unique and rediscovered chapter in jazz history and the African-American experience on the West Coast.
The exhibition will include two different components: Harlem of the West, featuring nearly sixty rare archival photographs of the Fillmore at its height, and Harlem of the West Revisited, an exhibit curated by the Jazz Heritage Center to compliment Harlem of the West and consisting of original photographs, paintings and murals. The exhibit also marks the formal opening of the Jazz Heritage Centers Koret Heritage Center, named to acknowledge the Jazz Heritage Centers lead donor, the Koret Foundation.
To celebrate the opening of the exhibition, the Jazz Heritage Center will be hosting a Community Day on Saturday, Dec. 6, from 1 p.m.-6 p.m. at the Lush Life Gallery. Jazz greats from The Fillmore will be in attendance in addition to Elizabeth Pepin and Lewis Watts, curators or Harlem of the West; and prominent photographers, David Johnson, Gerald Ratto (both of whom studied with Ansel Adams) and Mars Breslow.
About the Jazz Heritage Center
Located within the new Fillmore Heritage Center in the heart of the Historic Fillmore Jazz Preservation District, the non-profit Jazz Heritage Center is part jazz museum, part jazz cultural center, and part jazz art gallery. By showcasing art and historical exhibitions, concerts, films and youth programming, the JHC's mission is to preserve and promote jazz, an American national treasure, while celebrating its presence as an active, living art form in San Francisco and beyond. The JHC includes the Lush Life Gallery, the JHC Public Lobby, the Take Five Gift Shop, and, soon, the JHC Screening and Education Center. The JHC is funded by a lead grant from the Koret Foundation.
For more information contact All About Jazz.
