Greetings,
My name is Jason Anderson, and I am the Director of Jazz Studies at the Osceola County School for the Arts in Kissimmee, Florida. We are a performing arts school comprised of eight art majors and students in grades 6-12. Beginning in the 7th grade, students are eligible to join the jazz program. Currently, I direct three full big bands, three jazz combos, plus a ‘Jazz Lab’ class for our younger students without any prior jazz experience. While our school is over 20 years old, this is my third year as Director of Jazz Studies. Despite my short tenure, the jazz program has experienced unprecedented success in the past three years. In my first year alone, my top band was selected as a finalist in the prestigious 2022 Essentially Ellington Competition & Festival at Jazz at Lincoln Center. We won first place, and then returned to the competition last year and won first place again! On Wednesday, February 14th, 2024, we were notified that we were once again selected as one of the 15 finalists in this year’s competition (May 7th-12th)!
Now we face the reality of raising the nearly $60k needed to return to NYC. If you are unfamiliar with our program and/or our students, I can tell you that we are severely lacking in financial support. Our school district is usually only able to contribute about $7k-$10k to our trip, leaving the students with the burden of raising the remaining $45k+. Our school is open to students, by audition, from any county. However, most of our students hail from Osceola County and almost all of them are zoned to Title 1 schools. Most of our student body qualifies for reduced and/or free lunch as well.
Because of their lack of money, almost none of my jazz students are financially capable to afford private lessons either. Additionally, most of them take the bus to and from school. Many of them live in Poinciana and spend 4 hours each day on a school bus (2 hours each way with traffic). It truly is a testament to the talent, fortitude, and determination of our jazz students that they have been able to achieve such success against the lack of time and financial resources. Conversely, most of the students in the other EE finalist bands reside in upper-middle class to wealthy communities or attend private schools. I do my best to try to organize paying gigs for the students to raise the money, but being kids, they easily tire from too many performances. It also makes staying on top of their academic studies even more difficult. The OCSA Jazz program has been transformative for many of our students as several of them have been awarded scholarships to some of our nation’s most prestigious universities & conservatories. Last year alone, two of our graduates received full-tuition scholarships to attend the legendary Juilliard School in New York.
I am currently reaching out to supporters of the arts in Orlando and lovers of this great music we call Jazz. Please consider donating to our program and supporting these truly amazing young musicians in their quest to return to NYC. Donate to the OCSA Jazz Program today.
Sincerely,
Jason G.M. Anderson
Director of Jazz Studies
Osceola County School for the Arts