The New Zealand National Commission for Unesco is hosting a forum on April 28, bringing together jazz music educators and Unesco representatives from Auckland and Wellington.
Speakers include music therapist Helen O’Rourke, Annie Keating from the Whanganui Musicians Club and Fox.
“That’s focused on how creativity makes better cities,” Chernoff said.
“I want to get people involved who are interested in Unesco’s kaupapa, as well those who [have an interest in] International Jazz Day’s kaupapa.
“The jazz community is very small in this town, and I want to draw in as many people as I can. This isn’t just for music students. There must be students out there who are interested in foreign affairs or politics, all the things Unesco is involved in.”
Whanganui was the fourth New Zealand city to be recognised in Unesco’s Creative Cities Network, with Dunedin as a City of Literature, Wellington as a City of Film and Auckland as a City of Music.
Chernoff said while jazz had a bigger presence in the city than in years gone by, he was still pushing local high schools to include more of the art form in their music education.
“I’m trying desperately to get teachers interested, and I don’t know why jazz music doesn’t appear on the curriculum. It should, but it’ll take some work, and some interest from these teachers.
“To me, it’s not necessarily just [about] young people learning to play jazz, it’s them learning the lessons of jazz and incorporating that in their playing, no matter what kind of music they play.
“It could be rock or reggae or anything.”
The music was “always current and always fresh”, he said.
“If you look at a clip from the 1920s or 1930s, it seems as if it was made yesterday.
“This [International Jazz Day] is the blue ribbon event of the jazz calendar, but the calendar is a 12-month-a-year affair.”
For more information and the full schedule, head to the Whanganui Celebrates International Jazz Day Facebook page.
