The second annual Mad Jazz Festival, an initiative of Lee Enterprises Virginia, will bring many American jazz standouts to Veritas Vineyards in Nelson County, on Sept. 23. Critically acclaimed saxophonist Tim Warfield serves as artistic director for the 2023 edition of the festival. Warfield has curated an all-star lineup of jazz greats, Grammy-nominated musicians and chart climbers.
“I am amazed by the musical talent we’ll be able to present that evening,” said Chris Dorm, director of digital advertising for Lee Enterprises. “For those who love jazz, Veritas Vineyards is the place to be on Sept. 23. But this festival is not just about music. It’s about community. That’s why we partnered with a Charlottesville-based nonprofit to receive part of the proceeds from the festival.”
That nonprofit is the Chris Long Foundation, brainchild of two-time Super Bowl champion, recipient of the 2018 NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year Award and Charlottesville native Chris Long. Since 2015, his organization has brought clean water and educational opportunities to under-resourced communities, both internationally and domestically.
“We are incredibly grateful for this opportunity,” said Nancy Hopkins, executive director for the Chris Long Foundation. “We are always looking for meaningful local partnerships and we are elated to be part of this festival.”
The origins of the foundation go back to 2013, when Long ascended the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro, a dormant volcano in Tanzania and Africa’s highest mountain. It’s there where he learned about the many problems caused by a lack of reliable, readily accessible water sources in communities around East Africa.
“Not long after, he launched our foundation’s signature water access initiative, Waterboys,” Hopkins said. “Through this initiative, we partner with organizations in Tanzania and Kenya to install sustainable deep borehole wells for water-insecure communities. It truly is life-saving work. And in 2019 we started working to address the clean water crisis here in the United States. A lot of people aren’t aware that around 2 million Americans lack access to clean running water in their homes.”
That effort is supported by over 70 current and former professional athletes and thousands of sports fans across the globe. To raise awareness and funds, Long annually returns to the mountain with a group of current and former athletes, as well as military combat veterans, to make the climb through a Waterboys program called “Conquering Kili.” That trek represents the miles that many African women must journey on a daily basis to fetch water for their families.
According to Hopkins, around 550,000 people in West Africa and the United States have been reached by the foundation’s work around clean water so far.
“Our other pillar, and just as important, is to provide overlooked communities with educational opportunities,” Hopkins said. “Through our EdZone initiative’s essential needs programming, all six elementary schools in Charlottesville have a stock of basic necessities for under-resourced children and their families. They can access them through ‘EdZone closets’ in the schools. Students can find items like toothpaste, soap or backpacks. We’re thrilled by this collaboration with the Charlottesville City Schools. It ensures kids have what they need to succeed in school.”
EdZone’s essential needs program was founded in 2021.
That effort is music to the ears of Howard Stein, executive vice president of Old Dominion National Bank, which signed on as a corporate sponsor for the music festival.
“It’s really wonderful to hear that the Chris Long Foundation is involved,” Stein said. “As a community bank, we always try to support the communities we are a part of, and we have done that since our founding in 2007. We have long had a focus on supporting literacy and reading programs in local schools and care deeply about education equity. So this is a great initiative for us to be a part of.”
For Chris Long, the collaboration with Lee Enterprises Virginia is exactly the kind of partnership he was looking for.
“These kinds of partnerships, where proceeds directly support our mission, are key to expanding our impact,” Long said. “So we’re thrilled to be partnering with the Mad Jazz Festival. Music has such a way of bringing people together, and the festival has an incredible lineup. Big thanks to all involved and here’s to changing lives together.”
For more information about this year’s lineup, ticket prices and more, please visit madjazzva.com.
