Project Staff
Suzanne Cloud, Project Director
Suzanne Cloud, writer, historian, and jazz singer appearing with Philadelphia’s top musicians, received her doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania in American Studies. Cloud has authored six young-adult history books, contributed to the African-American National Biography Project at Harvard, and was the founding director of Jazz Bridge, a nonprofit aiding musicians in crisis. Her play Last Call at the Downbeat was part of the 2013 Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts. Cloud has recorded critically acclaimed albums on the Dreambox Media label, which recently reissued her political 1995 release With a Little Help from My Friends.
Jack McCarthy, Consulting Archivist
Jack is a longtime Philadelphia archivist and historian who has held leadership positions at several area historical institutions and directed a number of major archives and public history projects. He has a master’s degree in music history and specializes in Philadelphia music history. He regularly writes, lectures, and gives tours on the subject, serves as consulting archivist for the Philadelphia Orchestra and Mann Music Center, and has worked on numerous Philadelphia music projects. Jack initiated the idea and served as Project Director for the 2018-2019 Discovery Project.
Project Partner Representatives
- Ars Nova Workshop: Current fiscal sponsor. Mark Christman, Executive and Artistic Director, and Celeste DiNucci, Director of Strategy and Development
- Jazz Bridge: Fiscal sponsor/The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage
- Jazz Philadelphia: Gerald Veasley, President, and Heather Blakeslee, Executive Director
- Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz & Performing Arts: Lovett Hines, Artistic Director
- Philadelphia Jazz Project: Homer Jackson, Director
Project Advisors
- Faye Anderson – preservationist; founder and director, All That Philly Jazz website
- Herman Beavers, Ph.D. – scholar & writer; professor of English and Africana Studies, University of Pennsylvania
- J. Michael Harrison – jazz historian; longtime jazz host, WRTI-FM
- Germaine Ingram – jazz tap dancer, choreographer, songwriter, and vocal/dance improviser
- Alphonso McClendon – associate professor, Westphal College of Media Arts & Design, Drexel University; author, Fashion and Jazz: Dress, Identity & Subcultural Improvisation
- Lewis Porter, Ph.D. – jazz pianist and scholar; founder & director, Master’s in Jazz History and Research program, Rutgers University-Newark
- Steve Rowland – radio documentary producer, director, oral historian
- Diane Turner, Ph.D. – jazz scholar; curator, Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection, Temple University
Business Address
Ars Nova Workshop
Bok Room 509
1901 South 9th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19148