Sacramento Jazz Education Foundation

The Sacramento Jazz Education Foundation's mission is to support the education of current and future generations in the performance and appreciation of early jazz. Young musicians and educators learn teamwork and collaboration skills that build confidence, belonging and fulfillment. We create and support joyful environments for music performance and artistic expression.

The Foundation was formed in 1996 in anticipation of a large donation to fund the Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society’s annual Youth Jazz Camp – now known as the Teagarden Jazz Camp.

The Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society rightly felt that the best way to manage this and other endowments and to ensure that it was used for the express purpose of youth jazz education, was to create a separate foundation.  The Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society Foundation established its own board of directors and 501c(3) identity separate and distinct from the Society. In 2018, the name was changed to the Sacramento Jazz Education Foundation.

Through donations and endowments, the Foundation has expanded its youth education programs,  and in 2013 began not only funding but producing and managing both the Teagarden Jazz Camp and the Traditional Jazz Youth Band Festival.