The idea of the Pinelands Jazz Festival was born of a vision of a group of individuals passionate about educating young people. The festival is going to be an awesome experience with some of the best jazz musicians in the tri-state area. However, the day’s events are going to support a much larger mission than just yet another music festival.

The festival organizers, South Jersey Music Education Partnership (SJMEP) and the Dr. James Still Historic Site and Education Center, are both 100% volunteer organizations with similar missions of educating young people. They have joined together to host this event and each will share equally in any profits realized from the event to further the cause of educating young people. You can learn more about each of these organizations at their prospective websites (sjmep.org andfacebook.com/drjamesstill) and also by reading the “About” section at the end of this document.

The Details
Date: September 13^th, 2014 (Rain date, Sept 14^th)
Time: 10 am to 6 pm
Place: Dr. James Still Historic Site and Education Center, 209-211 Church Road in historic Medford NJ,  CLICK HERE FOR MAP
Price: $5, includes everything – music, water, tours of the historic site

We have seven feature acts lined up on the main stage, starting at 10 am and ending around 6 PM with an all-star jam session. In addition to the music, the following activities will be going on.

·  Tours of the Education Center

·  Craft Vendors

·  Food Vendors

·  Arts and Crafts for the kids

·  Dog run (bring your pooch, we are dog friendly and will have a fenced in dog run available)

·  “The Woodshed” – young musicians will be playing along with seasoned professionals in “The Woodshed” in between acts on the main stage.

The Venue

This festival takes place at the Dr. James Still Historic Site and Education Center which sits on 18 acres in historic Medford, NJ, just about 1 mile north of Rt. 70, just off Rt. 541 at 209 Church Rd. The site is situated on over 18 acres and has two main buildings, the Dr. James Still’s Office and The Education Center plus many out buildings on premise. In addition, there are very large fields that make up a significant portion of the property. Much work has been done since the property was opened just over a year ago, but if you take a look around you will see that this property has the potential to host a much larger, multi-day event, should our vision of growing this festival become a reality.

How can you help?

As this is the 1^st year of the Festival, we started with $0’s in the bank, yet we already have expenses that exceed $3000. We have $1000 promised to us by a few sponsors, but we still need $2000 just to reach the breakeven point.

Please help us as follows:

-  Pledge your support

-  Spread the word by sharing our campaign with all your friends and on social media

The Impact

Not only is the Pinelands Jazz festival a great idea in terms of pure entertainment, we are hopeful that this event will grow year over year and will become a significant fundraiser for the Dr. James Still Historic Site and Education Center as well as South Jersey Music Education Partnership. These two entities are 100% volunteer organizations and receive no state funding, so your support is GREATLY appreciated.

Risks and Challenges

This is a grass roots effort by just a handful of people that want to see this festival become a reality. However, these volunteers are no stranger to hard work and perseverance. Their own efforts as founding members of SJMEP and the Dr. James Still Historic Site and Education Center have proved that they have what it takes to turn a dream into reality.

About Dr. James Still Historic Site and Education Center

With no dedicated public or private funds, hundreds of volunteers of all ages came together to build this Center because they believed in the importance of Dr. James Still’s legacy and its value for people of all backgrounds.

The creation of the Dr. James Still Historic Site & Education Center this past year has been a dream realized for the Still family.  The Medford Historical Society has overseen this project with the single goal of preserving the legacy of Dr. James Still and the community he called “home”.

Our mission is preserving Dr. James Still’s story through education. Our partners include Medford Township Schools, Winslow Township Schools, Burlington County College, as well as the home schooling community in South Jersey.Together we offer high quality programs and field trips for hundreds of students of all ages each year.We celebrated our first year with the big Juneteenth Celebration in June of 2014.

Please help us continue in this important work to keep the story of Dr. James Still alive and to share the example he has taught all of us through his amazing life of service. 

About South Jersey Music Education Partnership

Founded in 2012, SJMEP’s mission is to ensure that music education is a vital part of every child’s upbringing. The founding members were disheartened to see instrumental music programs being cut in public schools and set out to do what they could to ensure that these kids did not miss out on the opportunity to study music.

Since their inception, SJMEP has awarded about 100 scholarships to kids to take summer music lessons through the New Jersey School of Music, free of charge.  They hope that this 10 week summer lesson program will be the launching pad for students that traditionally would have been introduced to instruments in the 4^th grade, but no longer have that opportunity due to budget cutbacks in public schools.

SJMEP also works with M-Town Jazz Jam to provide performance and mentoring opportunities to young jazz musicians. M-Town has had over 60 student musicians come out and rehearse and/or play with them at area concerts. M-Town and many of these student musicians will be featured in “The Woodshed” the day of the festival.

SJMEP hopes to expand their scope and impact more students in more areas. The funds raised at this festival will go directly to furthering the mission of this all volunteer organization.