U of G’s Improvisation, Community and Social Practice Project (ICASP), in partnership with the Guelph Jazz Festival, has received a $134,800 grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation. The three-year grant will allow this partnership to provide ongoing community outreach activities. The funding will go specifically towards the Improviser-in Residence program, the Nuite Blanch program and the hiring of more staff.
“Through partnerships with a range of community-based organizations, we will use the funds we’ve received from the Ontario Trillium Foundation to develop innovative strategies to put improvising musicians in direct, meaningful and sustained contact with the broader communities in which they live and work,” said School of English and Theatre Studies professor Ajay Heble, who is the artistic director of the Guelph Jazz Festival and project director of ICASP.
ICASP is an international community/university research project involving researchers from 18 universities, which is focused on musical improvisation as a model for political, cultural and ethical dialogue and action.