Why Build a New Building?

The Jazz Bakery is building a permanent new home so that our organization can be sustainable and continue serving jazz and the community for many years to come. When we lost our subsidized rented space at the Helms Bakery building in 2009, we found rents for similar spaces to be prohibitively high.  Then three things happened.  Culver City gave us a piece of land in their downtown arts district, The Annenberg Foundation awarded us a $2M grant for expansion, and Frank Gehry called Ruth Price and asked if he could design a building for us. Following the leads of similar organizations like SFjazz and Jazz at Lincoln Center, we decided to create a center for jazz in Southern California to further our mission.  With Artistic Director Price’s visionary leadership, and the support of Culver City, Frank Gehry, and cultural stakeholders like The Herb Alpert Foundation, The Annenberg Foundation and many others, we are confident that we will realize our dream of a permanent and sustainable new home for jazz in Southern California.