Mapping the Scene: Creative Ecosystems in Post-Secondary Jazz Education

Abstract

Abstract: The jazz world is built on exploration and innovation, which makes the genre and its practice tediously difficult to define. Practitioners use performance spaces as venues to not only share their art but to teach new musicians. That model is hard to replicate, but music programs in higher education have sought to do this since the 1940s. As part of that practice, we theorize that the institutional environment, particularly in the creative disciplines, is a critical input factor for jazz programs necessitating further research. This study investigates the creative ecosystem in jazz degree-granting institutions (JDGI; n = 90) through a mapping of higher education programs offering jazz degrees. We use these data to create a profile of an archetypical collegiate jazz program and present a snapshot of contemporary jazz education while offering a novel baseline for future research in the field.