The Great American Songbook Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the music of the Great American Songbook. The Songbook Foundation's administrative offices and Songbook Exhibit Gallery are located on the Gallery level of Payne & Mencias Palladium at Allied Solutions Center for Performing Arts in Carmel, Indiana. The Songbook Library & Archives are housed offsite nearby.
Previously known as the Feinstein Foundation for the Education and Preservation of the Great American Songbook and as the Michael Feinstein Great American Songbook Initiative, the organization took its current name in 2014.
The Songbook Foundation's mission is "to inspire and educate by celebrating the music of the Great American Songbook."
History and operation
Michael Feinstein founded the organization in 2007. Upon Feinstein's appointment as artistic director of Allied Solutions Center for the Performing Arts in 2009, the organization made a commitment to move its headquarters and archives on the center's campus in Carmel, Indiana.Jay Handelman, "Behind the Scenes: Feinstein Works to Preserve Classic Music", Herald-Tribune Sunday, March 31, 2013, retrieved from http://arts.heraldtribune.com/2013-03-31/featured/behind-the-scenes-feinstein-works-to-preserve-classic-music/ .
The Great American Songbook Foundation's administrative headquarters houses a reference library, study and listening rooms for researchers, archival storage space, and the Songbook Exhibit Gallery, an exhibit space featuring rotating interactive presentations about the music, its creators and the performers of the Great American Songbook.
In 2023, the Songbook Foundation announced its agreement with the City of Carmel to open a stand-alone music museum.
Education and outreach Songbook Exhibit Gallery
The Songbook Exhibit Gallery features rotating exhibits. These exhibits helps guests to place the music of this era in context with the events that occurred in the 20th-century United States. The Songbook Foundation offers corresponding educational programs and guided tours for school groups, civic and professional organizations, and members of the general public.
Since 2011, the Songbook Foundation has presented the following exhibits: "G.I. Jive: The Music and Entertainers of World War II" (2011), "The Great American Songbook" (2012), "Blast from the Past: Roaring Hot '20s Jazz" (2013), "A Change Is Gonna Come: 1960s Broadway Musicals" (2014), "Gus Kahn: The Man Behind the Music" (2015), "The Great Indiana Songbook: Two Centuries of Hoosier Music" (2016), "Ella Sings the Songbook" (2017), "The Unsinkable Meredith Willson" (2018), "The Andrews Sisters: Queens of the Jukebox" (2019) "Of Thee I Sing: Politics on Stage" (2019–2021). The current display, "From the Jazz Age to Streaming: The Soundtrack of the 20s-20s," was first installed in 2021. Additionally, the Songbook Foundation lends traveling exhibits and provides adapted online exhibits and Songbook Library & Archives collections highlights.
These exhibits focus on different time periods, styles, and artists.Jay Handelman, "Behind the Scenes", 2013. In addition to the interactive display which houses clips and short biographies of several decades of singers and songwriters, each exhibit displays artifacts from the Songbook Library & Archives that relate to the music and musicians being highlighted in the Songbook Gallery exhibits.Michael Grossberg, "Archive Promotes Classic American Songs", The Columbus Dispatch Sunday April 21, 2013, retrieved from http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/travel/2013/04/21/1-archive-promotes-classic-american-songs.html.
The Songbook Academy
The Songbook Academy is an educational summer music intensive held by the Great American Songbook Foundation. Formerly known as the High School Vocal Academy and Competition, the program originated in 2009 and trains cohorts of up to 40 high school vocalists annually.Joel Henning, "A Cultural Conversation", 2012. The Songbook Foundation states on its website, "At the Songbook Academy, we believe that every young singer has a unique story to tell through music."
The Songbook Academy has undergone significant evolution since its founding. During its inception, the program invited high school students to compete in regional competitions to culminate in a final competition at the Songbook Foundation's headquarters. The program changed in 2015 to accommodate 40 students in a single location at Allied Solutions Center for the Performing Arts. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the program temporarily transitioned to an online format in 2020, eliminating its competitive element. The summer intensive has maintained a non-competitive focus on education since resuming in-person programming in 2022.
Winners of the earlier competition format were commemorated as Great American Songbook Youth Ambassadors. Each Youth Ambassador won a $3,000 scholarship and a trip to New York City to perform alongside Michael Feinstein. Today, the Songbook Foundation celebrates the professional growth of each student by providing alumni avenues to share achievements and coordinating additional networking and performance opportunities.
+Great American Songbook Youth Ambassadors (2009–2019)WinnerHometown YearRef.Julia BonnettCarmel, Indiana2009Annie YokomNaperville, Illinois2010event on hiatus2011Nick ZiobroManlius, New York2012Julia GoodwinBaldwinsville, New York2013Vlasáková, Anna. "The Great American Songbook High School Vocal Academy & Competition - Everything Old is New and Alive Again!", July 27, 2013, retrieved from http://stardust-melodies.blogspot.cz/2013/07/the-great-american-songbook-high-school.html.Maddie BaillioLeague City, Texas2014Lucas DeBardLebanon, Indiana2015Brighton ThomasBurbank, California2016Finn SagalLa Cañada Flintridge, California2017Lily RasmussenLexington, Kentucky2018Sadie FridleySyracuse, New York2019
Songbook Hall of Fame
The Great American Songbook Hall of Fame is a tribute to people who have contributed to the genre, memorializing composers, performers, and lyricists who have added to the history of the Songbook."Songbook Hall of Fame Names 2013 Honorees", The Indianapolis Recorder May 14, 2013, retrieved from http://www.indianapolisrecorder.com/aroundtown/article_76b47d2a-bcb9-11e2-bd51-0019bb2963f4.html. Artists are nominated and selected based on the following criteria: Legend Award: Artists who made a significant contribution to the Golden Age of American popular music, typically defined as the period from the early years of the Twentieth century through the 1960s; Songbook Award: Living songwriters, both lyricists and composers, who have made a significant impact on American pop culture by creating the most beloved songs from the American popular songbook; and New Standard Award: Artists, songwriters and/or performers who continues to create the soundtrack of our lives by writing and/or performing music that will become the pop standards of tomorrow.""Songbook Hall of Fame Names 2013 Honorees", 2013.
In the past, the Songbook Foundation and Allied Solutions Center for the Performing Arts hosted live performances in celebration of the lives and careers of the artists selected for induction into the Great American Songbook Hall of Fame. Nominees, or their representatives, were invited to Carmel and honored with tribute performances celebrating their achievements. In recent years, the Songbook Hall of Fame has evolved into an online educational resource for fans around the world with programming to celebrate inductees hosted virtually and in-person year round. +Songbook Hall of Fame HonoreesArtist(s)Years activeAwardYearArea of AchievementRef.Barry Manilow1964–presentNew Standard Award2012Creator of ten chart-topping singles and five best-selling albums in the 1970s, while simultaneously producing albums for Bette Midler, Nancy Wilson (jazz singer), and Dionne Warwick.Cole Porter1920s–1958Legend Award2012Composer and lyricist of several successful Broadway shows and films, such as Paris (1928) and Kiss Me, Kate (1948) Rita Moreno1943–presentNew Standard Award2013Liza Minnelli1949–presentNew Standard Award2013Jimmy Webb1965–presentSongbook Award2013Frank Sinatra1935–1995Legend Award2013Alan and Marilyn Bergman1950s–2017Songbook Award2014Longstanding career of more than 50 years. Recipients of sixteen Academy Awards, two Grammy Awards, three Emmy Awards, and one Ace Award.Johnny Mathis1956–presentSongbook Award2014Shirley Jones1950–presentNew Standard Award2014Linda Ronstadt1965–2011New Standard Award2014Nat King Cole1934–1965Legend Award2014Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gormé1950–2019New Standard Award2015Chita Rivera1950–2024New Standard Award2015George Gershwin & Ira Gershwin1910s–1950sLegend Award2015Diahann Carroll1950–2016New Standard Award2016Dionne Warwick1955–presentNew Standard Award2016Hoagy Carmichael1918–1981Legend Award2016Ray Gilbert1940s–1960sLegend Award2017Mitzi Gaynor1944–2021New Standard Award2017Ella Fitzgerald1934–1993Legend Award2017Marilyn Maye1946–presentNew Standard Award2018Jimmy Van Heusen1930s–1970sLegend Award2018Rosemary Clooney1946–2002Legend Award2018Paul Williams1964–presentSongbook Award2019Duke Ellington1914–1974Legend Award2019Doris Day1939–2012Legend Award2019Tony Bennett1936–2021New Standard Award2019Meredith Willson1921−1982Songbook Award2020Peggy Lee1936–2000Songbook Award2020Billy Strayhorn1934–1964Legend Award2021Melissa Manchester1971–presentNew Standard Award2021Sammy Cahn1935–1982Legend Award2021Straight No Chaser1996–2000 2008–presentNew Standard Award2022The Manhattan Transfer1969–2023New Standard Award2022The Lennon Sisters1955–presentNew Standard Award2022Judy Garland1924–1969Legend Award2023
GRAMMY Museum Cultural Affiliation In July 2017, the Los Angeles-based Grammy Museum announced that the Great American Songbook Foundation has been designated as a Cultural Affiliate, joining four other institutions worldwide: the Bob Marley Museum in Kingston, Jamaica; the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, OH; The Beatles Story in Liverpool, UK; and the National Blues Museum in St. Louis, MO. The relationships allows for collaboration between the organizations on exhibits and educational and research programs, among other amenities.
Perfect Harmony Music Program Founded in 2015, the Songbook Foundation's Perfect Harmony program offers music activities to people with Alzheimer's, dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases. This program was initially launched in collaboration with the Greater Indiana Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association. and has since evolved to independently offer monthly resources online. Each Perfect Harmony resource is designed for participants and caregivers to become involved in social singing, discussions, and low-impact movement exercises to a thematic selection of popular music. As a group, people share experiences related to memorable songs and the monthly theme.
Songbook Film Series The Great American Songbook Foundation partnered with Indianapolis-based Heartland International Film Festival to present classic movie musicals to the public, cultivating a new generation of movie lovers. Some screenings included guest speakers, who enlightened audiences on the nature and creation of the movies shown.
Archives, library, and preservation
The Songbook Library & Archives serves as a repository for the papers of significant Songbook figures including Meredith Willson, Hy Zaret, and Gus Kahn, as well as special collections covering such artists as The Andrews Sisters, spanning a range of formats: sheet music, photos, scrapbooks, posters, music magazines, books, LPs, 45s, lacquer disc, personal papers, theatre playbills, film, video, analog tape, and recordings. Many items in the collection are now a hundred years old.