“Amelia Island, Jazz Festival” (2017), Alfred Gockel. Image courtesy of Park West Gallery. (PRNewsfoto/Park West Gallery)
Park West Gallery and the Amelia Island Jazz Festival are making beautiful music together.
Park West Gallery is sponsoring the Amelia Island Jazz Festival for its fourth consecutive year as part of its mission to encourage an appreciation of the arts. The gallery’s non-profit organization, the Park West Foundation, is contributing $15,000 to the festival.
“We are delighted to be a four-year sponsor of the Amelia Island Jazz Festival, a program that supports youth so that they can pursue their musical talents and abilities,” Park West Foundation Director Diane Pandolfi said. “We know that, by supporting the festival, people of all ages will have an increased opportunity to enjoy the arts.”
Now in its 14th year, the Amelia Island Jazz Festival holds fundraising concerts to finance scholarships for students seeking degrees in music. Proceeds are also used to fund concerts for the elderly as well as music workshops for local Florida students.
Park West’s support extends beyond financial contributions. The gallery provides art and one of its top auctioneers to facilitate a charity auction benefitting the festival. In addition, an artist with Park West Gallery is chosen to create official artwork for the festival.
The official artist for the 2017 Amelia Island Jazz Festival is Alfred “Alex” Gockel, an internationally-renowned artist whose expressive, abstract works are collected around the world. Among his accomplishments includes creating official artwork for the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy.
Previous Park West Gallery artists who served as the jazz festival’s official artists are David “Lebo” Le Batard, Tim Yanke and Marcus Glenn.
This year’s Amelia Island Jazz Festival is scheduled for October 8–15 on Amelia Island, Florida. The festival is the creation of Les DeMerle, a world-class drummer who has performed with musical greats like Frank Sinatra, Mel Tormé, Sammy Davis, Jr., Lou Rawls, Joe Williams, Harry James and Lionel Hampton.
About Park West Gallery
Founded in 1969, Park West Gallery has connected artists to more than 2 million fine art collectors through art auctions on over 100 cruise ships, in major metropolitan regions and via a public art gallery in Michigan. Park West Gallery creates an entertaining, educational and welcoming environment that ignites a passion for the arts and offers an incomparable collecting experience.