The Newport Festivals Foundation, Inc. has been awarded a 29-month Arts Program grant in the amount of $50,000 from Doris Duke Charitable Foundation to support presentations by DDCF grantees at the Newport Jazz Festival during 2011-2013. Percussionist Dafnis Prieto has been commissioned to compose a new piece for his sextet to debut at the 2012 Festival, which is set for August 3-5.
“We are grateful to the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation for its support of the Newport Jazz Festival,” said George Wein, Producer of the Festival since its inception in 1954 and Chairman of the Newport Festivals Foundation. “We are pleased that through the support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, we are able to present the music of Dafnis Prieto and others in Newport, where some of the finest moments in jazz history have occurred.”
The DDCF grant supported new music projects by composer/percussionist/bandleader John Hollenbeck and MacArthur Foundation recipient/saxophonist Miguel Zenón at the 2011 Newport Jazz Festival.
