Alaska Jazz Workshop

What it reported doing in 2024

AJW's 7/1/24 to 6/30/25 Activities and Accomplishments: The AK Jazz Workshop's Jazz Education program included 6 Jazz Combo Improvisation classes in the Fall 2024 and Spring 2025 Semesters with 40 grade 7-adult students in beginning to advanced combos. Students received 2 hours of weekly instruction in song writing, improvisation skills, music theory rhythmic & melodic dictation, Jazz History, developing standard song repertoire, and building communication skills. Instructors included John Damberg, Nick Petumenos, and Mark Manners. The August 4-9, 2024 AJW Jazz Camp included 5 beginning to advanced small combos for 40 grade 7 -adult students. Students received 25 hours of instruction in small combo communication, performance & improvisation skills, and song repertoire building. Instructors included John Damberg, Nick Petumenos, Mark Manners, Jacques Annandale, and Ruben Lopez Ramos. The AJW presented 5 student recitals to over 484 audience members. The AJW Faculty Jazz Ensemble, including 8 professional Alaska teachers/performers, presented 16 concerts/workshops to 1061 students in the middle & high schools of the Anchorage and Mat-Su school districts. The concerts/workshops exposed students to the joy of creating music using jazz improvisation and to promote the AJW August 2024 Jazz Camp. The AJW's Community Jazz Session program, hosted by AJW instructor and board member Nick Petumenos, featured 50 weekly Community jazz jam sessions from 6:30-9:30 pm. on Mondays at the Fire Island Bakery located at 718 K St, Anchorage, AK 99501. The sessions employed 38 house band musicians performing for an average of 41 weekly audience members with a yearly total of 2135. This was a 32% attendance increase from the 2023 fiscal year. The audience members donated a total of $8,438 for the year with a weekly average of $159.21, which is a 13% increase from the 2023 fiscal year. The AJW also collaborated with the Anchorage Downtown Partnership to present 10 free outdoor jazz community concerts from 4-6 p.m. Saturdays from July 6-August 17, 2024 and May 31-June 1-28, 2025 at Peratrovich Park in downtown Anchorage to over 2,100 audience members from local Alaska to Alaska summer visitors from around the world. The concerts featured 10 local south central Alaska student & professional bands involving 46 musicians. The concerts featured the John Damberg Latin Jazz Quintet, the Blue Dixie Combo, AJW Student Jazz Ensembles, the Mark Manners Sextet, The KP Brass Band, the AK Soul Society, Williwaw Blue, Whereat, Phil Knowlton Band, AJW Community Jazz Session Jammers, the A Town Sharps, Choice Bit of Calico, the Phil Knowlton Band, and the AJW Jazz Camp Faculty Sextet. The AJW awarded 1 full and 8 half tuition waiver work scholarships to for the AJW 2024 Jazz camp, the Fall 2025, and Spring 2025 weekly jazz classes valued at $2,690. Grants received: the Atwood Foundation Grant of $20,000 on 3/27/24 to support the AJW 2024 activities including the 2024 AJW Jazz Camp, the AJW Weekly Community Jazz Session expenses from July 1-October 27, 2024, 16 AJW Jazz Outreach Improvisation workshops in the schools program, and the AJW 2024 Jazz Concert Series at Peratrovich Park in Anchorage, AK. Community donations from the AJW & ADP Concerts in the Park totaled $1522 for the AJW Student Scholarship fund. Community sponsors and donors include the Atwood Foundation, Alaska State Council on the Arts, the Rick and Cyndie Fox Foundation, the MUNI of Anchorage, CARTA-Retired Teachers of Alaska Association, and numerous private donations from Paul Paslay, Heather Tauschek, Peter Schaab, Tim Petumenos, Karen Strid, Stephanie Erickson, Scott and Linda Ruttum, Matt Peterson and Mary DeMers, , Ed Ulman, Mathew Olson, Mary Alice Johnson, Alexander Silver, Marcus and Laverne Lee, Randall Carlson, Dohnn and Kristie Wood, Rich Kinney, and many more. Total grants and donations for the fiscal year 2024 were $46,961.00.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 88%; rating input score 88
• Program expense ratio: 98.2%; rating input score 98

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 10.4%; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.83; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.31; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 7.3% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 7.4% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 15.2% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings