Ars Nova Workshop aims to reimagine cultural legacy and preservation work by testing whether it is possible to create effective, trusted pathways to preservation and legacy-building for jazz artists and communities who have historically experienced exclusion from cultural institutions. For many Black jazz musicians, decades of neglect and inequitable treatment have produced deep mistrust toward universities, museums, and archives. Rather than attempting to fix this problem by expanding access to existing institutions alone, Ars Nova’s Jazz Legacy & Estate Services program will deploy an entrepreneurial leader inside a trusted community-based arts organization to support artists and families with legacy planning; cultivate ethical/appropriate archival strategies; broker relationships with institutions, scholars, and commercial partners; and help families imagine both how to preserve and activate collections through exhibitions, recordings, publications, education, and ongoing creative use.
