Jeanette M. Russell Jazz Scholarship Competition

Jeanette M. Russell Jazz Scholarship Competition

     FORT LAUDERDALE, FL – On Saturday, April 22, the Gold Coast Jazz Society will present the 15th annual Jeanette M. Russell Jazz Scholarship Competition. The competition will be held at the Dillard Center for the Arts, Dillard High School, 2501 N.W. 11 St., Fort Lauderdale, Fla. occurs from 9 a.m. until 12 p.m. and is free and open to the public to attend.

Students will compete for scholarship support from the Jeanette M. Russel Scholarship Program and Robert G. Friedman Scholarship. The students will participate in a live musical audition for scholarship awards to attend 2017 summer music camps or for tuition assistance to attend colleges or universities in the fall of 2017. Twenty-six jazz finalists were selected this year who are from area high schools and have met the financial criteria and other scholarship qualifications.

Since 2003, the Gold Coast Jazz Society has awarded over $450,000 in scholarships to students from middle schools, high schools, colleges and universities pursing studies in jazz.  “Jeanette Russell would be thrilled to help these very worthy students in their jazz studies.  We’re also very grateful that Jeanette Russell provided us with the resources for support from the Robert Friedman family for the scholarship program again this year,” said Pam Dearden, Executive Director of the Gold Coast Jazz Society. “It’s incredibly rewarding to know that we are able to assist so many talented students.”

Jeanette Russell, affectionately known as “Lady Jazz,” was an avid jazz fan and frequently assisted jazz musicians in need.   She achieved success in New York City as a fashion designer and consultant. Robert Friedman was nationally known as a composer of “big band” jazz music, achieved the pinnacle of success in business and industry as the President and Chief Executive Officer of The National Machinery Company in Tiffin, Ohio. Their love of jazz lives on through this scholarship program.

The Gold Coast Jazz Society is a not-for-profit organization that is dedicated to perpetuate and advance jazz through performances, education and out-reach activities. For more information or to donate to the scholarship program, call (954) 524-0805 or go to www.goldcoastjazz.org.