WBGO’s Second Annual Livestream Fundraising Event, today at 7 p.m. EDT, will celebrate "Women of Influence" — from musicians to management, community advocates to NEA Jazz Masters. Among the honorees are Gail Boyd, a prominent artist manager, and Linda C. Harrison, Director & CEO of the Newark Museum of Art.
Boyd is president of her own entertainment law firm as well as Gail Boyd Artist Management, a wholly owned company of the firm. She is also the founder of the influential Facebook Group Alternative Venues for Jazz, which explores new possibilities around presentation of the music. It became a vital space online during the coronavirus pandemic — an event that also led Boyd to team up with presenters Brice Rosenbloom and Danny Melnick to start the Jazz Coalition.
"I became a jazz manager because I wanted to preserve jazz as an art form," says Boyd. "In fact, my friend Kathleen Glover calls it my 'divine assignment,' and I accept that."
A similar sense of service motivates Linda C. Harrison, in her role at the Newark Museum of Art. "We want to be that museum that collaborates with our cultural partners here in Newark," she says. "This is now that new energy for a museum that I wanted to bring about to the city... and bring people in so they could see that this is their museum."
WBGO's "Women of Influence" event will also recognize drummer, composer, activist and educator Terri Lyne Carrington, and WBGO's own Dorthaan Kirk, both recent recipients of the NEA Jazz Masters fellowship; they were also featured in The Art of the Story this week.
Featured performers on the event will include Artemis, the all-women supergroup; Next Jazz Legacy, featuring Carrington as a special guest; Catherine Russell and Bria Skonberg; and the Women of Influence All-Stars, with Lakecia Benjamin on saxophone, Regina Carter on violin, Carla Cook on vocals, Miki Hayama on piano, Mimi Jones on bass, and Shirazette Tinnin on drums.
The livestream will start at 7 p.m., EDT on June 22, and will remain available through midnight on Sunday, June 26. Purchase tickets here.
