IAJE Files For Bankruptcy

By I Apr. 18, 2008

The International Association for Jazz Education has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, according to a letter that IAJE President Chuck Owen sent out to organization members on Friday. “IAJE as it presently stands will no longer exist,” Owen wrote.

“Years of dependence upon the [IAJE] conference as a primary (but unreliable) revenue stream and the launch of a well-intentioned capital campaign (the Campaign For Jazz), which generated a meager response but required considerable expenditures in advance of contributions, drove the organization into insolvency,” Owen wrote. “Sadly, the attendance at the conference in Toronto (the lowest in 10 years) exacerbated an already critical situation, depriving the association of the cash-flow needed to continue daily operations as well as the time needed to seek alternative resources.”

Owen added that the 2009 IAJE conference in Seattle has been cancelled and that the organization’s office has closed its doors, although it will still operate the iaje.org web site.

The bankruptcy filing comes after a few weeks of public hits that the organization has endured this month. Mary Jo Papich resigned from her position as president-elect of the International Association For Jazz Education in a letter addressed to the IAJE Board and past presidents on April 8. A few days earlier, Owen sent a letter to its members describing the organization’s finacial situation as, “the most challenging time in the association’s history.”

At that time, the organization faced a mountain of debt that sources say could be more than $500,000.

“It’s a hard time for non-profits, especially in the arts,” IAJE executive producer Steve Baker said. “Even corporations are struggling now. This is not necessarily a vigorous economic time. All of that has had an impact on us.”

Papich’s departure also followed the resignation of Bill McFarlin, who stepped down from the position of IAJE executive director in Feburary.

Owen’s letter on Friday said that a court appointed trustee will determine the exact causes of the IAJE’s demise. Still, he stressed looking toward the future of jazz education.

“Our efforts and our passion should be to collectively rally the community to recognize the importance IAJE has had and continues to have in the life and development of jazz and jazz education—seeking new strategic partnerships, new government structures and a revitalized mission that embraces current needs,” he wrote.

—Aaron Cohen