Since the birth of America’s only indigenous art form and its journey across the globe, certain cities have put distinctive stamps in its sound, history and development. As one of the greatest purveyors of jazz, Kansas City continues to put an indelible mark on the music – and within its borders is one of the important incubators of the art form, the American Jazz Museum.
The Museum is a vital cultural institution that plays host to countless students, educators, music enthusiasts, musicians both local and national – and thousands of people from our community. Through the City’s past, present, and future support, the Museum is able to preserve, celebrate and advance Kansas City’s rich musical, historical and cultural traditions.
Located in the Historic 18th & Vine Jazz District in Kansas City, MO, the American Jazz Museum showcases the sights and sounds of jazz through interactive exhibits and films, the Changing Gallery exhibit space, Horace M. Peterson III Visitors Center, Blue Room jazz club and Gem Theater.
Since its inception in 1997, the Museum has hosted thousands of students, scholars, musicians fans for over 200 performances, education programs, special exhibitions, community events and more each year, providing an opportunity to learn about the legends, honor their legacy, or simply enjoy the sounds of Kansas City jazz. Our mission is to celebrate and exhibit the experience of jazz as an original American art form through research, exhibition, education and performance at one of the country's greatest jazz crossroads - 18th & Vine.
In addition to the permanent exhibition, the Museum hosts four major exhibitions each year in its Changing Gallery providing free access to the museum-going public. Arts, entertainment and cultural programming at the American Jazz Museum helps to fill a void that exists in public school education with respect to meeting the needs of standard-based driven initiative requirements. The Museum provides educational programming and museum tours to more than 26,000 students from 440 schools, mostly drawn from local & regional school districts.
The American Jazz Museum also presents upwards of 300 public performances annually, including those in the Blue Room, an internationally recognized, award-winning jazz club and the Gem Theater, home to the Jammin’ at the Gem concert series. Of special note is that of the 200+ performances in the Blue Room, almost half of the events are free and open to the public.