(Washington, D.C.)—The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced today that it has awarded Washington Performing Arts a $35,000 Grants for Arts Projects Award in support of its Spring 2022 Hazel Scott Celebration. Over the course of a multi-day tribute, Washington Performing Arts will host events celebrating the once-renowned American pianist and activist, including performances of her music, a world-premiere ballet commission (with Dance Theatre of Harlem) inspired by Scott’s life, concert/lecture programs designed around Scott’s role in New York’s Café Society, numerous institutional collaborations, and a panel discussion on jazz activism.

“We are so grateful to the NEA for supporting Washington Performing Arts’s forthcoming celebration of Hazel Scott, the extraordinary pianist, composer, entrepreneur, and cultural icon,” said Washington Performing Arts President and CEO Jenny Bilfield. “The fuller measure of Hazel Scott—the pianist, entrepreneur, arranger/composer, groundbreaking TV star, center of cultural life in NY and Paris—needs to be more widely known. Given the many currents in her life and work, and the parallels with our world today, the timing is absolutely right to revisit her legacy.”

The Hazel Scott Celebration, curated with input from Scott’s son Adam Clayton Powell III and Scott biographer Karen Chilton, is intended to introduce a new generation of music fans to this great American’s life and work and to help restore her rightful legacy as one of the great American artists of the 20th century. Originally designed as a Hazel Scott centennial tribute for the 2020-21 Season (Scott was born June 20, 1920), the project was postponed to 2021-22 in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Complete details will be released by Washington Performing Arts in the coming months.