Artistic Director, Davey Yarborough is also the Director of the Jazz Studies Program at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington D.C. A highly regarded professional musician and composer, Davey employs the professional services and seeks volunteers from among the cream of musicians, educators and historians with local and national reputations to provide the services which support the activities of the Institute. Together with committed board members and officers, the Institute has realized many and are working towards the development and fulfillment of the following activities:

» The development and maintenance of a first-class Jazz Orchestra called the New Washingtonians Jazz Orchestra; serving as a repertoire performance vehicle of this American music composed by Washington area artists and other Jazz composers of note. Our commitment is to the creation and utilization of new venues throughout the city and its suburbs to promote across generations and geography, greater appreciation and support for Jazz and young Jazz musicians in this-area.

» A structured program of musical education with a focus on Jazz offering a range of opportunities for children who can benefit from artistic therapies, cultural awareness, individual and group musical training, performance experience, mentoring relationships as mentors and mentees and exposure to a variety of career options in music.

» A graduated, tiered program of mentoring; providing training and support for supportive relationships between older and/or more experienced musicians and younger students who are required to mentor the next age-group down so that each level will have access to one-on-one instruction and encouragement.

» The expansion of access to Jazz through audience development activities and student recruitment into music programs exposing them, their families, friends and neighbors to the music.

» The sponsorship of specific outreach activities throughout the Washington Metropolitan area, particularly in communities where live music performance and affordable cultural opportunities for families are rare and where the creative energies of some children are neither recognized nor encouraged.

» Professional assessment of musical talent. Referral and placement of children in programs provided by the WJAI and others recognizing that where that talent can be developed, it can be used to help children overcome other barriers to healthy social development or positive educational achievement.

» A coordinated and comprehensive effort to collect, catalogue and document the artifacts of a musical and social heritage in Washington, DC and surrounding areas with a focus on the contributions of Washingtonians to the music and the context of history in its creation.