The Legacy Plays On

The Legacy Plays On! reincarnates the American Jazz Museum’s inaugural theme in commemoration of 20 years serving the local and national communities through research, exhibition, education, and performance. Explore the history of the American Jazz Museum in this celebratory exhibition!

• Origins of the museum — why it was created and the needs it would meet, the planning and construction process, the key figures, and the opening reception
• Venues and performances dedicated to the advancement of the art form and growing the jazz audience
• Programs and events through which the museum engages the community Traditionally, the museum has also hosted Kwanzaa celebrations and Martin Luther King Jr. Day events, meeting the need for cultural engagement and allowing the museum to serve as a good steward to the community.
• Temporary and traveling exhibitions that have passed through the Changing Gallery. High art, folk art, high-tech, literary, and cultural histories, have all been themes of past exhibitions
• Highlights from the museum’s permanent collection (including rarely-seen artifacts)

The community’s role in the history of the museum is just as important now as ever. For the first time in the history of the American Jazz Museum, there will be portions of the 20^th anniversary exhibit that are community curated. Facebook fans voted in three Visitor’s Choice polls in April and May 2017. The three artifacts selected for the Jewels of the Collection section will be on display for the first three months of the exhibition and then will rotate to show the runners up.