UI To Launch Lionel Hampton Center Project

Of national note is a Feb. 22 announcement by jazz artist Lionel Hampton, UI President Bob Hoover, and honorary co-chairs Former President and Mrs. George Bush and U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., to launch the new Lionel Hampton Center. This four-part project is more than a performance and education facility on the University of Idaho's campus. It includes an international jazz archive to preserve the world's jazz heritage, scholarships, professorships and endowment of the annual jazz festival to pass on the culture.

MOSCOW, Idaho - The University of Idaho and a host of national leaders will gather to launch what will become a comprehensive center for jazz artists and scholars - the Lionel Hampton Center - on Thursday, Feb. 22.

U.S. Congressman John Conyers, D-Michigan, will join jazz great Lionel Hampton and UI President Bob Hoover, along with Former President George Bush by video, to unveil project plans at 10 a.m. in the Gold Room of the University Inn/Best Western in Moscow.

The Lionel Hampton Center project has four components. It will secure the future of the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival and support scholarships and professorships in UI's Lionel Hampton School of Music. The project also establishes an international jazz collection that will be accessible electronically, and it will construct a performance and education facility to include a 1,200-seat performance hall.

Funding for the $60 million four-part project will come from a combination of federal, state and private sources. Former President Bush and his wife, Barbara, have lent their support as honorary co-chairs of the private fundraising campaign based on a 40-year friendship and admiration for Hampton, who has played for presidents since Harry Truman and was a U.S. goodwill ambassador through his many international tours. Conyers, who also serves as an honorary co-chair, is a longtime advocate of preserving the nation's jazz heritage.