Jacques Schwarz-Bart Awarded 2022 Creative Capital Grant The Berklee faculty member, saxophonist, and composer will use the grant to fund his new recording project, Mosaic (Music from the African Diaspora).
By
Colette Greenstein
June 29, 2022
Jacques Schwarz-Bart
Image by Christian Ducasse
Jacques Schwarz-Bart, an associate professor in Berklee's Ensemble Department, is the recipient of a 2022 Creative Capital Award. The grant will fund the saxophonist and composers new musical recording, Mosaic (Music from the African Diaspora).
Schwarz-Bart is one of 59 artists working in the performing arts, visual arts, film, technology, literature, and socially engaged and multidisciplinary practices awarded Creative Capital grants this year. Each project will receive varying amounts up to $50,000 in direct funding, supplemented by career development and networking services to foster thriving artistic careers.
We are thrilled to be supporting Jacques Schwarz-Barts Mosaic (Music from the African Diaspora), which centers international and intergenerational musical collaboration to creatively explore the common ground between jazz and Afro-diasporic music from the Caribbean, North Africa, and South America, said Aliza Shvarts, director of artist initiatives for Creative Capital. Schwarz-Bart poetically describes this ambitious project as a bridge-builder in time and space'-which is a vivid image that illustrates the practical power of formally innovative and socially engaged art.
Schwarz-Bart was introduced to his first instrument, the gwoka drum, in his native Guadeloupe. Raised in both the Caribbean and France, gwoka music gave him a taste for polyrhythms, lyrical melodies, and improvisation, and also taught him the claves, the rhythm patterns that are common to all Afro-diasporic music styles. A self-taught saxophonist, he rose to prominence in the New York jazz scene, where he was at the center of several musical revolutions, including neo-soul (performing with D'Angelo and Erykah Badu) and new jazz (as a founding member of Roy Hargrove's RH Factor). He also pioneered the creation of gwoka jazz and voodoo jazz, two new styles that reunite jazz with its Afro-Caribbean and spiritual origins. Over his career, he has produced more than 20 records for a variety of artists, is featured on over 150 albums as a sideman, and has taught master classes and clinics in 12 different countries.
I have dedicated my life to exploring the common ground between jazz and Afro-diasporic music from Guadeloupe, Haiti, Cuba, Brazil, Martinique, Trinidad, Morocco, New Caledonia, Colombia, and Cape Verde, said Schwarz-Bart. With the Creative Capital grant, I can put my entire experience into one grand project, and travel to each one of these countries in order to display both the uniqueness of each Afro-diasporic tradition, and the common thread between all of them, through my Mosaic project.
In 2015, Schwarz-Bart was awarded the status of Knights of the Arts and Letters by the French government, and in 2017 he was the laureate of the Bernheim Award for the Arts. That same year, he released the albums Creole Spirits, a collaboration with legendary Cuban pianist Omar Sosa; and Jewazz, a contraction of Jewish and jazz, which was recorded in honor of his late father and acclaimed writer, Andr Schwarz-Bart.
About Creative Capital Creative Capital is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to fund artists in the creation of groundbreaking new work, to amplify the impact of their work, and to foster sustainable artistic careers. Founded in 1999, Creative Capital pioneered a transformative grant-making model that marries direct funding to individual artists with infrastructure and scaffolding support. These efforts have impacted not just artists but the arts ecosystem. The Creative Capital model of philanthropy has inspired countless other nonprofits investing in the long-term, sustainable careers of artists. More than 75 percent of recent awardees are Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, or artists of color representing a wide range of age groups, artistic disciplines, and regions. Creative Capital awardees have received numerous prestigious honors and accolades, including 127 Guggenheim Fellowships, 19 MacArthur Genius Fellowships, three Academy Awards (and 13 nominations), and one Booker Prize.
Related Categories
News
Most Popular
From left to right: Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas, Sadie Sink as Max, Joe Keery as Steve, Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin in Stranger Things
Image courtesy of Netflix
Kate Bush and Stranger Things: Whats the Secret to a Perfect Sync? Lily Burns B.M. '16 weighs in on the enormous success Running Up That Hill has been enjoying since being featured on the hit Netflix series.
Latest
Berklee Alumni Nominated for Emmy Awards Nineteen Berklee alumni received Emmy nominations this year, for sound mixing, sound editing, music composition, music direction, and more.
Boston Conservatory at Berklee students (left to right) Morgan Kyle, Jordan Hall, Amber Talley, and Steven Eckloff performed music from Rent in their Two Track performance in June.
Image courtesy of the artists
Berklee's Two Track Series Celebrates Pride' to Kick off Summer The popular YouTube series features students performing original music and exploring ideas around a central theme.
Jacques Schwarz-Bart
Image by Christian Ducasse
Jacques Schwarz-Bart Awarded 2022 Creative Capital Grant The Berklee faculty member, saxophonist, and composer will use the grant to fund his new recording project, Mosaic (Music from the African Diaspora).
Read All
Subscribe The latest sounds, stories, and ideas, sent to your inbox weekly.
North America Stories
30/05/2026
Zero in on one that says yes (and no)
Andy Marken May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos
For content creators the most difficu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
29/05/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
29/05/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent ratings news and is derived from press re...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, died April 12, 2026, at his home in...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Comparing 5 AI Video Enhancers for Restoring Old Video Quality
Kate Luvis May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Digitizing VHS, MiniDV, and other legacy formats doe...
29/05/2026
Studio Hamburg Builds New Post Pipeline with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Workflow replaces a patchwork of legacy tools...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
At the Intersection of Music and Dance, an Epic Collaboration Boston Conservatory musicians and dancers found creative parallels in their recent performance o...
29/05/2026
Something fundamental has shifted in how people consume media. Audiences aren't abandoning television or radio content; they're just expanding how, wher...
29/05/2026
Back to All News
The Official Trailer of Physical 100 Italy, on Netflix From Se...
29/05/2026
Experimental HIV vaccine achieves a long-sought goal In a first for the field, all non-human primates given a new series of vaccines generated antibodies capabl...
28/05/2026
FOX Sports' MLB coverage dominated the night at the 47th Annual Sports Emmy ...
28/05/2026
One of the most memorable postseasons in baseball history would have had no memo...
28/05/2026
NBC's Sunday Night Football is among the most-decorated and most-watched pro...
28/05/2026
The 2026 Sports Emmys marked a watershed moment for Prime Video Sports. After bu...
28/05/2026
Hosted by ESPN Senior Writer Ryan McGee, the ceremony honored winners from athletic departments, conference offices, professional networks, production companies...
28/05/2026
Major rights-holders rolled out their 2026 college football slates today, offering a first look at marquee windows, kickoff partners, and conference distributio...
28/05/2026
The 4 Nations Face-Off, an international competition that launched in February 2...
28/05/2026
Soccer is a truly global sport, and, to match the U.S. viewing audience's in...
28/05/2026
The NFL Today, CBS Sports' top-of-the-line NFL studio show, has a storied hi...
28/05/2026
Prime Video is no stranger to innovation, and, within the realm of live streamin...
28/05/2026
The crack of the bat, the pop of the glove, and the cheer of the crowd: those are three prime examples of the glorious sounds fans hear on televised baseball ga...
28/05/2026
Every year, March Madness captivates the entire sports world. Nonstop action, un...
28/05/2026
NBA on NBC was an integral part to live sports production in the 1990s, and, when the league made these media rights available, NBC Sports saw an opportunity to...
28/05/2026
UmpCam is a technological wrinkle that has given fans unprecedented views of wha...
28/05/2026
T-Mobile and the United States Golf Association (USGA) announced a multi-year partnership, making T-Mobile the Official 5G Network Partner of the U.S. Women'...
Jacques Schwarz-Bart Awarded 2022 Creative Capital Grant The Berklee faculty member, saxophonist, and composer will use the grant to fund his new recording project, Mosaic (Music from the African Diaspora).
