For 30 years, Ravinia Festival’s Reach Teach Play program has transformed the lives of young musicians through its Jazz Mentor Program. The initiative offers pre-professional training to two dozen or so talented Chicago Public High School student musicians each year—forming an ensemble known as the Ravinia Jazz Scholars—while also annually reaching 1,000 students in Chicago Public Schools through workshops led by Chicago’s top jazz musicians: the Ravinia Jazz Mentors.

In 2023, an exciting initiative was introduced: “Want to Play Jazz? A Workshop for Young Women,” founded by trombonist Audrey Morrison. “About a year and a half ago, Reach Teach Play Director Christine Taylor Conda asked, ‘Why aren’t more female musicians auditioning for the Jazz Mentor program?’ ” Morrison recalled. “This led to the creation of the women’s workshop, to encourage young female musicians to pursue jazz, a traditionally male-dominated field.”