The sights and sounds of a uniquely American art form come alive at the American Jazz Museum located in the Historic 18th & Vine Jazz District in Kansas City. This neighborhood, located in what was once the center of commerce for Kansas City's African American community, is recognized as the place where jazz legends like Charlie Parker, Lester Young, Julia Lee, Mary Lou Williams and Big Joe Turner perfected their skills. Tourists and Kansas Citians alike recognize that the AmericanJazz Museum, a stone's throw east of downtown, is where jazz lives inKansas City! Since the birth of jazz and its journey across the globe,Kansas City has put distinctive stamps on its sound, history, and development – and continues to offer fertile ground for the music to thrive.
The mission of the American Jazz Museum is to celebrate and exhibit the experience of jazz as an original American art form through performance, exhibition, education, and research at one of the country's jazz crossroads – 18th & Vine. The museum, Gem Theater, and Blue Room are cultural anchors of the district that attract countless students, educators, music enthusiasts, musicians – both local and national – and more than 160,000 people to 18th & Vine annually. Using the American's for the Arts' Arts Prosperity Calculator, we estimate that we infuse over $6 million dollars back into our local economy. Through continued philanthropic support, the Museum is able to preserve, celebrate, and advance Kansas City's rich musical, historical, and cultural traditions.