From TOLEDO ALLIANCE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
The Toledo Jazz Orchestra (TJO) and Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA) have announced a new strategic partnership, which will take effect in the 2022-2023 season. In this new agreement, TJO remains an independent non-profit organization, but TAPA will provide administrative leadership. Additionally, the TJO has announced the appointment of Alain Trudel as its next Artistic Director.
TAPA, which encompasses the Toledo Symphony and Toledo Ballet, was established in 2019 as a performing arts organization focused upon collaboration. TAPA seeks to optimize performances of music and dance and enhance educational offerings in the community. TAPA additionally offers shared services to other performing arts organizations.
The TJO recently celebrated its 40th anniversary. It has a remarkable history of presenting the best names in jazz for a local audience. It presents five big band performances each year as well as smaller ensembles, which perform around Toledo.
In this new partnership, TAPA will provide TJO with administrative support, including marketing, fundraising, box office, and operational services. By naming Alain Trudel its Artistic Director, the organizations will additionally connect on artistic matters. Trudel serves as the Music Director of the Toledo Symphony.
“Though the Toledo Jazz Orchestra has been a fantastic ensemble, we have operated in relative anonymity for over 40 years,” says Scott Potter, President of the TJO Board of Directors. “Partnering with TAPA elevates our presence and provides us a great opportunity to widen our audience. The TJO is also very excited to work with Artistic Director and Toledo Symphony Maestro Alain Trudel. Alain has very diverse musical interests and is a legitimate jazzer.”
Trudel is similarly enthusiastic. “It is with great emotion that I join my new colleagues of the Toledo Jazz Orchestra,” he says. “I feel humble to join such a historical group in our community and in the country where jazz was born! Personally, coming from a family of jazz musicians, this enables me to share with our community even more of my musical vision for TAPA.”
[RELATED: Alain Trudel mixes it up with Toledo Jazz Orchestra in night to remember]
Over the course of the 2022-2023 season, the organizations will explore further opportunities for collaboration. This includes the TJO becoming an official member of TAPA. The two organizations have received funding from the Strategic Alliance Partnership program at the Greater Toledo Community Foundation (GTCF). This will enable TAPA to perform services for the TJO but for TJO to remain independent and maintain control of its revenues.
“This arrangement provides a chance to date before marriage,” says Zak Vassar, TAPA’s President & CEO. “Thanks to the GTCF, our team can provide additional services to the TJO on a trial basis. We’ll have many opportunities to build trust between the organizations and see how well we work together. If TAPA is successful in enhancing the visibility of the TJO and its revenues, it will be much easier for us to foresee a future together.”
The GTCF provides the Strategic Alliance Partnership funding to encourage non-profits to consider ways to work more closely. “The Greater Toledo Community Foundation encourages and supports the alliance between TAPA and TJO,” says Keith Burwell, President of the GTCF. “This alliance will enhance musical experiences for the community and provide operating efficiencies for both organizations.”
“One of TAPA’s founding principles is to make the performing arts stronger together,” says TAPA’s Vassar. “Rather than using our precious resources to go out and create individual versions of the same wheel, we can combine our resources and invest in excellence that we can share. This makes the performing arts shine brighter in the region, offers more compelling programming to our community, and creates stronger foundations for the years ahead.”
TAPA will include TJO performances in its 2022-2023 season brochure. This includes five big band performances, three of which Trudel will lead: Classics from the Great American Songbook (Nov 17), a Swingin’ Christmas (Dec 17), a celebration of Duke Ellington & Billy Strayhorn (Mar 23), an evening with award-winning Matt Catingub (Apr 8), and the Art of Art Tatum (May 6). The November performance will additionally feature dancers from Toledo Ballet.
“This will be an amazing year,” says Alain Trudel. “I can’t wait for our community to come together and experience all the great music that we have planned. It’s such an honor to perform it here for all of you.”
For more information about the TAPA and the TJO, please contact Vanessa Gardner, Director of Marketing & Communications at vgardner@artstoledo.com.
