By Kelly Mearkle | Project Leader
FEDUJAZZ Celebrates International Jazz Day in the Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic Jazz Festival Educational Foundation (FEDUJAZZ) celebrated International Jazz Day on April 30, 2017, with a special fundraising event with live music from local musicians and student performers, in Cabarete, Dominican.
This joyful family event featured a fashion show with designs of the famed Dominican fashion designer Sissy Bermudez, and local mothers modeled the fashion collection, accompanied by their children.
The worldwide celebration of International Jazz Day is endorsed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which hosts simultaneous events around the world, promoting peace, dialogue among cultures, diversity, and respect for human rights and human dignity.
The International Jazz Day fundraiser was met with tremendous community support and spirit and proceeds directly benefit the foundation and its important educational mission.
More about FEDUJAZZ:
FEDUJAZZ offers free, high-quality music education for local youth at their center in Cabarete.
The Dominican Republic Jazz Festival has a celebrated 20-year history as one of the major cultural events of the island. Through a collaboration with the Jazz Festival, FEDUJAZZ students attend workshops with participating Latin Grammy and Grammy Award winning musicians, enabling them to interact and learn from internationally acclaimed musicians.
FEDUJAZZ and Music for Social Justice Represented at Harvard University, USA
María Elena Gratereaux, President of FEDUJAZZ, was an invited guest speaker at a panel on the topic of Music as an Avenue for Social Justice held at Harvard University in the United States in April 2017.
Ms. Gratereaux was honored to make a presentation on behalf of FEDUJAZZ, along with Patricia Zarate, Executive Director of the Panama Jazz Festival and Danilo Perez Foundation, and Sharon Katz, Director of Peace Train Movement, South Africa, speaking on the topic of music as an avenue of social justice.
These leaders share a rich history of utilizing music across the world in order to address educational inequalities, child poverty, and intolerances and differences. They dedicate their work through the use of music as an expression of culture and an effective avenue for social justice.
The mission of FEDUJAZZ to provide free music education for the youth of the Dominican Republic has developed through the work and oversight of Ms. Gratereaux. A champion of children’s and women’s rights, Ms. Gratereaux is an advocate of promoting culture and music as an instrument for social change, and tirelessly supports the struggle for non-violence against women and gender equality.
Ms. Gratereaux’s work with FEDUJAZZ since its formal inception in 2015 has positively impacted the community, where over two hundred children now receive free music classes at the Foundation in Cabarete, Dominican Republic. Notably, FEDUJAZZ entered into a collaboration with Berklee College of Music in 2016, which provides additional artistic support and resources for the foundation.
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