UNT JAZZ SYNDICATE A One-of-a-Kind Philanthropic Opportunity Presented to BILL & SUSAN COLLINS
VISION A centralized repository of UNT Jazz, Jazz History and Special Jazz Collections
PURPOSE Visibility
IMPACT Recruitment Retention Reputation
Accessibility Preservation
Those seeking primary sources in jazz will discover fully digitized collections, browsable collection inventories and digital humanities tools that will enable them to manipulate and explore data, creating a new understanding of the history of jazz.
UNT Jazz Syndicate
Vision The UNT Jazz Syndicate is a repository of jazz history and collections that also serves as a hub for connecting these collections to other significant jazz collections, including currently undiscoverable ones. It provides visibility and accessibility for materials related to jazz history with the express goal of preserving and linking the documentary evidence of jazz’s development. Purpose The Jazz Syndicate will provide centralized access to jazz collections of all media types (audio, video, still image, text, digital projects) and facilitate linkage tracking between related and complementary jazz collections at UNT and beyond. Impact By increasing visibility to our collections, we spread awareness of the UNT College of Music in the Jazz world, thereby increasing and solidifying our reputation among peer institutions, ranking organizations and foundations. Our increased reputation becomes an automatic recruitment tool, as witnessing jazz legends donate their libraries to our institution is no small compliment. By making these lab recordings and libraries accessible, we are able to recruit the best of the best musicians, obtain doctoral students and scholars due to our vast well of resources and retain current students because of the ease of research. Digitizing these collections preserves them in perpetuity, allowing these impacts to be felt for generations.
To accomplish the Jazz Syndicate’s footprint and serve as a beacon for future foundation funding and expansion, we are seeking a 5-year pledge of $75,000/year
Work Plan Development of this ambitious project is divided into multiple phases, each appealing to a variety of audiences while also fulfilling the needs of specific groups. The plan is modular and will not be completed in strict order. Please note that this plan is also funded in phases. • Digitize and describe One O’Clock Lab Band commercial master recordings. • Digitize and describe Breeden tapes, including campus concerts, tours and video recordings. • Digitize and describe Breeden films. • Digitize and describe papers relating to Jazz Studies collections. • Rehouse Jazz Studies Collection into appropriate archival boxes and folders.
Part 1: The History of Jazz at UNT This phase is already underway. We are focusing on digitizing and organizing materials that represent the first 75+ years of jazz at UNT.
Part 2: Jazz Studies Chart Library The second phase relates to making the Jazz Studies chart library discoverable and usable for the Jazz Studies department and other researchers.
• Digitize and describe all charts and parts. • Rehouse the chart collection into archival folders and boxes.
Part 3: Other Jazz Collections at UNT The UNT Music Library houses significant jazz collections that did not originate with Jazz Studies programs. Such collections include the Willis Conover Collection, the Maynard Ferguson and Stan Kenton chart libraries, the Tim Owens Jazz and Broadcast Collection and many more. It is crucial that we create an ecosystem in which those materials can be used alongside the departmental materials seamlessly to contextualize both. Gathering data for other jazz collections held by the UNT Libraries will set the stage for digitizing, describing and/or harvesting content from our collections to integrate them into the Jazz Syndicate. • Develop infrastructure to facilitate the discovery of materials from disparate platforms: $50,000. • Integrate existing descriptive data from these collections’ finding aids for materials where copyright prevents the public display of digitized works in the portal (such as the Stan Kenton and Maynard Ferguson chart libraries, among others): $20,000. Part 4: Expansion and Collaboration This phase enables us to build on relationships with other institutions who have such materials online and combine information about those collections with information about UNT’s collections, thus creating a central informational hub to facilitate discovery of collections from multiple institutions. Steps in this phase: • Digitize and describe non-Jazz Studies content in the UNT Music Library. • Develop a workflow to harvest data on extant jazz collections at other cultural heritage institutions. • Create partnerships with other interested institutions to identify materials that are already described or digitized online. • Integrate this descriptive information into the Jazz Syndicate so that users may have access to significant jazz collections from a centralized virtual repository. • Promote the Jazz Syndicate on social media, in professional organizations and on internal and external listservs to invite exploration.
Part 5: Fundraising Because many significant jazz collections are in the hands of small cultural institutions — like local historical societies — or individual collectors, these collections are infrequently available for use, or even known of, by researchers. As an institution with capacity for digitizing and hosting digital content, UNT could explore fundraising opportunities to support making such collections accessible. The very time-consuming nature of grant writing would necessitate professional support. Steps in this phase: • Hire a grant writer and/or development officer. • Seek funding from individuals and funding agencies that support library projects (such as the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Council on Library and Information Resources, and the National Endowment for the Humanities) to secure long-term support for the Jazz Syndicate. Part 6: Long-Term Growth and Sustainability To build an effective platform that will fully support the ongoing success of the Jazz Syndicate, we must be poised for continuous growth. The returns on the fundraising in Phase 5 — most especially from grants — will help us to build an endowment that can be used for external grants to institutions unable to fund digitization themselves, further acquisition of tangible jazz collections for UNT, and house, describe and digitize new materials. Phase 6 will secure the future of the project while creating a home for materials that could only be made available with the support that the Jazz Syndicate will provide. Steps in this phase: • Develop protocols and practices for collectors to donate materials to UNT for digitization, lend such materials for digitization or contribute already digitized materials to the Jazz Syndicate. • Provide grants for independent collectors and institutions to send their materials to UNT for digitization. • Acquire new collections through gift and purchase. • Organize and digitize new materials, including those produced annually by the Jazz Studies program. • Create open educational resources using materials from the Jazz Syndicate to facilitate the study of jazz for curricular needs.
A Note of Sincere Thanks Bill and Susan, we are deeply grateful that you would consider a gift of this magnitude to the University of North Texas College of Music. Your investment will create a valuable resource for scholars, researchers and students of jazz worldwide, making a bold statement about UNT’s future impact in music education and research.
Thank you for being champions of UNT!
Cherese Bassett Executive Director of Development 940-565-2243 | cherese.bassett@unt.edu
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