“We Always Swing”® Jazz Series

“WE ALWAYS SWING”® JAZZ SERIES: THREE DECADES STRONG.
Launched July 1, 1995, the “We Always Swing”® Jazz Series now celebrates its 30th Anniversary as the region’s only community-based, independently run, all-jazz concert producing and educational organization. The Jazz Series’ mission - To Present, Promote, Preserve AND Celebrate the now-global art form known as “Jazz” – remains as true today as it did at the outset. Since beginning operations as a six-concert presenter during its first season, the Jazz Series, with its small but extremely capable staff and an all-volunteer board of directors, the organization has steadily expanded its annual offerings.

Today, the Jazz Series, with the development of its educational and community-wide programs, produces close to 50 events per year. To date, the Jazz Series has collectively produced more than 400 concerts cumulatively featuring 1,700 of the world’s finest musicians, having them perform in Columbia, Missouri, in a myriad of spaces, from an intimate 125-seat club setting to a 1,200-seat theater, to spaces whose capacities lie somewhere in between. During the course of its now three-decade run (but who’s counting), the Jazz Series presence and consistent commitment to quality has both permanently altered Central Missouri’s cultural landscape and simultaneously created a nationally known well-respected, community-wide jazz hub.  

OUR DONORS ARE AS RESPONSIBLE AS WE ARE FOR THE JAZZ SERIES SUCCESS.
Amid previous CoMoGives Campaigns, contributions have arrived from more than 30 states, coast-to-coast; campaigns have seen gifts from Japan and United Kingdom, which only serve to reinforce the organization’s standing. Individual Contributions now account for ONE-THIRD of the organization’s carefully planned and prudently expended annual budget. The 2024 CoMoGives Campaign, with a goal of $75,000, seeks to attract exactly 50 percent of the organization's FY25, $150,000 annual individual donor goal. 

The generosity we’re asking YOU, our donors, to show during this campaign helps ensure the continued Jazz Series success in the immediate, in the interim as well as into the future. YOUR continued generosity helps ensure the organization’s well-being and allows us to continue attracting the world’s most talented musicians, having them perform in Columbia and deliver some of mid-Missouri’s finest concerts. Beyond that, YOUR contributions allow us to continue essential partnerships with the Public School District & University of Missouri, which lead to a plethora of educational activities that, to date, have touched more than 40,000 K-12 and college-aged students and additional thousands of people who have enjoyed additional Jazz Series-produced activities offered FREE to the community at-large.

We want to thank YOU for the continued trust YOU place in the “We Always Swing”® Jazz Series and most certainly we want to extend our thanks to your ongoing and forthcoming generosity in this campaign. We want to encourage you to please encourage other jazz enthusiasts and fans – no matter where they live – to join you in supporting the “We Always Swing”® Jazz Series during this special 2024 “We Always Swing”® Jazz Series 30th Anniversary CoMoGives Campaign Celebration. THANK YOU!