Atlanta — July 30, 2025 — South Arts is pleased to announce the 2025 recipients of its Jazz Road Creative Residencies program, awarding a total of $554,200 to 15 professional jazz artists across the nation. Each artist receives up to $40,000 in direct grants to pursue a self-defined residency that supports their artistic development, creative exploration, community engagement, and lifelong work in jazz.
Since its launch in 2018, the Jazz Road Creative Residencies program has centered the voices and needs of artists and their communities. By listening closely to these needs, the program continues to evolve, working to eliminate financial barriers that prevent professional jazz artists from fully investing in their creative practice, pursuing artistic and professional growth, and experimenting across a wide range of artistic and community-driven possibilities throughout the nation. Through direct collaboration with artists, the program provides both funding and technical assistance to strengthen their livelihoods and amplify their impact nationwide.
“These artists embody the spirit of jazz as both innovation and community,” said Drew Tucker, South Arts’ Director of Jazz Road. “Through these residencies, artists are building relationships, stretching boundaries, and showing what’s possible when jazz is rooted in place and purpose.”
| Anat Cohen SoundVisions Resident of New York Project based in New York, NY | Claudia Acuña Bed-Stuy Community Songwriting Residency Resident of New York Project based in Brooklyn, NY | Monika Herzig My Gift is My Song, and This One Is For You Resident of Indiana Project based in Bloomington, IN |
| Sirintip Phasuk Mycelium Resident of New York Project based in New York, NY | Erica von Kleist The Swing Resistance Resident of New York Project based in Whitefish, MT | Anthony Tidd Atelier Harlem: Quite Sane Residency Resident of New York Project based in Harlem, NY |
| Gregg Gelb Jazz Tales Resident of North Carolina Project based in Sanford, NC | Monica Shriver Here, There, and Everywhere: 1+1 with Female Jazz Instrumentalist Band Leaders Resident of Tennessee Project based in Nashville, TN | Joel Styzens Earbird Resident of Illinois Project based in Portland, OR |
| Calvin Sexton Calvin Sexton and the Birmingham Youth Jazz Ensemble: Legacy of Birmingham Jazz Resident of New York Project based in Birmingham, AL | Ian Berg Subject:Matter Resident of Massachusetts Project based in Boston, MA | Blossom Blossom Resident of New York Project based in Atlanta, GA & New York, NY |
| Faye Carol Blues, Baroque & Bars Resident of California Project based in Oakland & Walnut Creek, CA | Scott Mulvahill DataBass Incubator Resident of Tennessee Project based in Nashville, TN | Jean Caze Kreyol Jazz Resident of Florida Project based in Miami, FL |
This year’s residency projects will use jazz as a platform for community engagement, inclusion, and innovation. From intergenerational collaborations to bilingual songwriting and immersive neighborhood performances, many of the works are interdisciplinary, centering local voices and pushing the boundaries of the discipline to honor its cultural and historical legacies for generations to come. Collectively, these projects reflect the evolving landscape of the genre, with artists embracing community-driven, cross-sector, and media-rich experiences.
Organized by South Arts with support from Doris Duke Foundation and the Mellon Foundation, Jazz Road Creative Residencies is one component of the broader, national initiative, Jazz Road initiative. The program is coordinated in partnership with five fellow regional arts organizations: Arts Midwest, Mid-America Arts Alliance (M-AAA), Mid Atlantic Arts, New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA), and Creative West (formerly WESTAF).
Artists are welcome to submit a written application and work samples, which are reviewed and selected by a panel of experts across the field. Based on the artistic excellence and merit of the proposed residency, recipients are chosen for support. To learn more about Jazz Road Creative Residencies, awarded artists, or to apply for future cycles, please visit southarts.org.
About South Arts
South Arts advances Southern vitality through the arts. The nonprofit regional arts organization was founded in 1975 to build on the South’s unique heritage and enhance the public value of the arts. South Arts’ work responds to the arts environment and cultural trends with a regional perspective. South Arts offers an annual portfolio of activities designed to support the success of artists and arts providers in the South, address the needs of Southern communities through impactful arts-based programs, and celebrate the excellence, innovation, value and power of the arts of the South. For more information, visit www.southarts.org.
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