This coming September 2020 we are planing a series of 4 hybrid online events combining performances and discussions with a number of Amazing Jazz musicians! Visit our Jazz at the Lake Reimagined event page to see the schedule and learn more about our performers.
The Lake George Arts Project is deeply committed to bringing people together to hear and see great music. Our Summer Music Series and Jazz at the Lake are not just two of our favorite events, the magic of these events is created by having amazing musicians perform with one of the most beautiful lakes in the country as the backdrop.
This summer we don’t have the luxury of time to help us make some very difficult decisions about our presenting season.
Keeping artists, the audience, staff, and volunteers safe is our top priority and is a responsibility we take seriously. Even if we were able to present in a traditional sense this year, it just wouldn’t be the same. So, through many conversations, and with the input of artists, stakeholders and the audience, Lake George Arts Project Staff and Board of Directors have decided to cancel our Summer Concert Series and our Jazz at the Lake programs for this year. Like many of our friends in the community who plan and present events, this decision is an unprecedented one for us.
We won’t be gathering in Shepard Park this year but we will be gathering amazing Jazz performers in the virtual world for our Jazz at the Lake Reimagined program; a series of 4 hybrid events that combine performances, a discussion with the artists and time to ask your favorite musician the questions you’ve been eager to have answered – Stay tuned for updates!
The Lake George Arts Project was founded to support artists and to provide them with opportunities to perform. We know, when all of this is over, we will be stronger; with new models for approaching programming and new ideas for how to best serve artists and our community. The opportunity to step back, take a deep breath and reimagine what we do, has given us a new tome of knowledge and experience that will help us do what we do even better.
We look forward to the future when it will be safe to gather, see, hear and dance to live music!
Take a look back at our 2019 musicians HERE.
About Jazz at the Lake:
Lake George Arts Project previous Executive Director John Strong (1984 – 2020), and Paul Pines, previous Jazz Weekend Artistic Director (1983 – 2018), planned the first ever Lake George Jazz Weekend over 35 years ago. We were blessed having Paul Pines, artist, writer, poet, Jazz enthusiast and advocate, curate this event all those years. He never missed a beat – making magic happen every time. Paul passed on June 27, 2018. He created a remarkable legacy for this annual event, and he will be missed by so many artists, musicians and Jazz fans, just to name a few. Please click here for more info and links on Paul’s creative life.
Paul’s vision for Jazz at The Lake continues. Paul’s friend and colleague, Daniel Kelly, jazz pianist/composer, continues Paul’s work in his 2nd year as LGAP’s Jazz Weekend Artistic Director and Curator. Daniel performed at the 2010 Jazz Festival with his EMERGE TRIO and again in 2015 with his trio WORKS featuring saxophonist Joe Lovano. He also performed at our Summer Concert Series in 2016 with violinist Gretchen Koehler.
Daniel Kelly and Paul Pines became close friends during their association over the years.
Said Paul: “I remain convinced that Daniel Kelly is one of the most stunningly original talents both as an improviser and a leader that I have known in a long career of promoting this art form. His musical ideas spring naturally from a visionary imagination.”
Daniel Kelly is also the co-founder and co-Artistic Director of Connection Works, an artist-run non-profit organization based in Brooklyn that, since 2007, has presented workshops for young people and produced over 250 concerts, featuring artists such as Grammy award-winner Joe Lovano, NEA Jazz Masters Dave Liebman & Shelia Jordan and MacArthur “Genius” Grant recipients Dafnis Prieto & Steve Coleman.
Supporters
We are able to offer a high quality showcase of internationally acclaimed Jazz acts at no charge because of our sponsors and supporters. We are again grateful to Kenneth and Susan Gruskin for their continued support, and The Gruskin Group for their award winning graphic art since 2009.
Thanks also to the Town of Lake George, all our donors who participated with Ken and Susan Gruskin’s matching donation program and the New York State Council on The Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
We encourage contributions from our audience to the continued life of this festival, and urge you to become a LGAP member!
The Gruskin Group is a major supporter of the Lake George Jazz Weekend – Watch a preview of the documentary they are producing – celebrating 35+ Years of Jazz @ The Lake!
One of the best-kept secrets on the Eastern jazz festival circuit, the Lake George Jazz Festival is a gem worth discovering. – Bill Milkowski, Downbeat Magazine
thank you to our sponsors:
