This interview originally aired on SDPB Radio “In the Moment”.
For 35 years, the Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society has touched the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. It has worked to develop amateur her musicians into lifelong music lovers and artists, while at the same time supporting recreational and professional musicians and promoting the state and local arts scene. The organization has put South Dakota’s people back on their feet with several events and programs that sway to a rhythm.
The Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society is now disbanded, but not before living up to its legacy.
and the legacy it left behind. For decades, the Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society has celebrated and promoted jazz and blues, America’s unique art forms. Influence music lovers and musicians in your community.
Its live music and educational events include the Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Festival, also known as Jazzfest, concert series, Jazz Diversity Project, All-City Jazz Ensemble, Jazz Camps, and scholarship programs.
Through two monetary donations, the association continues its mission to support music and arts education in the region.
A $55,000 fund, held at the Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation, will ensure that Levit at the Falls is dedicated to music education in the area. In addition, the Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society will donate his $40,000 to the Sioux Falls Arts Council’s Artist Microgrant Program.
Beth Ormseth is President of the Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society. She joins her In the Moment to discuss her tough decision to disband the organization and her hopes for the future of music education in South Dakota. Nancy Halverson, executive her director of Levitt at the Falls, talks about how she works to keep the association’s mission alive.
