The Greater Olympia Dixieland Jazz Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to:

  Preserving and promoting the live performance of Dixieland Jazz.

  Encouraging and promoting the hiring of Dixieland Jazz bands for various community events, and includes the sponsorship of an annual festival.

  Encouraging youthful musicians to play Dixieland Jazz through educational programs.

The support and encouragement of young Dixieland Jazz musicians is an important element in the Greater Olympia Jazz Society’s annual program. A one week camp providing training in traditional Dixieland Jazz is held each August in Sacramento, California or a camp in Montana. The young we support, including vocalists, are grouped into seven bands and receive excellent training in this traditional music. The Greater Olympia Dixieland Jazz Society is proud to provide financial support so that young musicians from our area may attend this camp. We helped clarinetist Claire McKenna attend three camps. She recently appeared in Seattle’s Benaroya Hall with trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and his Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. She is now co-leader of the all girls band, Mighty Aphrodite. Claire also travels the world as a guest artist.