Q&A with Pamela Hart: Austin’s First Lady of Jazz
By Elizabeth Snell
Meet Pamela Hart, a 2024 National Leaders of Color Fellow.
Pamela is an artistic director, singer, vocal coach, producer, and project manager based in Austin, Texas. She is considered Austin’s First Lady of Jazz, designated by AustinWoman Magazine. She has devoted over 25 years of her life toward singing jazz and keeping the jazz genre alive. She and her husband, Kevin Hart, co-founded the Women in Jazz Association, Inc. in 1994, and she has been an advocate for women in the industry. She performed Sunday livestream house concerts most Sundays in 2020 to soothe the soul during COVID-19 sheltering. She released a CD, Happy Talk, in May 2021. She was inducted into the Austin Jazz Society Hall of Fame in 2018.
We’re thrilled to introduce you to Pamela as part of our Q&A series with our region’s National Leaders of Color Fellows. She joins a total of 48 National Leaders of Color Fellows chosen this year to represent our region. Alongside the other fellows from diverse communities nationwide, Pamela has engaged in an eight-month online leadership development experience curated by WESTAF in collaboration with the U.S. Regional Arts Organizations.
What projects are you working on these days?
I am planning the 2nd Annual Austin Women in Jazz Festival for September 21-22, 2024. I also have a new Uplift Jazz Project geared for senior citizen communities. We take jazz concerts to them at senior community centers, assisted living facilities and nursing homes. It is one of the rewarding projects I have. I’m also working on realizing a five-year strategic plan for Women in Jazz Association, Inc. focused on capacity building, and increased community engagement through collaboration.
What is your earliest memory of being involved with art and creative work?
I remember singing for company when I was five. I had learned Nancy Wilson’s “I Had A Ball” as it was played by DJ Brad Pride, Jr., on the radio in Los Angeles as his sign off. That was also the time I was supposed to leave for school. My mother would have me sing it when relatives came over.
What are your hopes and visions for your community and our region as a whole?
My vision is to make the Women in Jazz Association, Inc. an Austin community cultural institution that is valued and needed in the community as a jazz education, wellness, and performance space targeted for women but open to all.
Is there someone that you have admired (mentor, teacher, friend, or artist) that impacted your path in a positive way that you’d like to share?
My teacher in the Texas area is Dr. James Polk crossed over in June 2024. He was very instrumental in the development of the Women in Jazz Association, Inc.’s quality of programming and my personal growth as a jazz singer. He was the father of jazz in the Austin community, and I was fortunate enough to have direct access to him. He taught me everything I know about jazz performance.
Since the program is coming to a close, do you have any reflections about the impact of the program that you’d like to share?
The LoCF program is the best common sense education I have received. The information and support from the mentors, presenters, and other fellows boosted my confidence 300% and gave me permission to be different, bold, and my true self. Now I dare to follow my own instincts without questioning the outcomes or caring about what others think. I trust my decisions and feel confident that I will recover from any mistakes along the way. I have created a personal vision for the first time in my life, and I will stick to it so that I may win. I am better at balancing my work and life. Learning to rest has boosted my business acumen and artistic creativity at the same time. What a concept? I am so grateful to have participated in the program. I am a better leader as a result.
More about Pamela Hart:
Pamela Hart has received many awards for her community work as a jazz supporter. These include the Connie Yerwood Conner National Woman of Achievement Award, and Jazz at St. James A.D. Mannion Award, Texas State University Outstanding Alumni Award, Links Austin Chapter Arts Award, and the BOSS Award of Distinction. With her performances, the Women in Jazz Association, Inc., vocal performance workshops, and vocal coaching, Hart is making a difference in the Austin music scene. Thanks to City of Austin Economic Development Department Thrive funding, she is taking the Women in Jazz Association, Inc. to the next level and making it a viable part of the Austin artistic community.
To learn more about the 2023–2024 fellows, visit artslead.org/leaders/2023nationalfellows/.
The National Leaders of Color Fellowship is supported by the six U.S. Regional Arts Organizations:Arts Midwest, Mid-America Arts Alliance, Mid Atlantic Arts, New England Foundation for the Arts, South Arts, and program convener WESTAF.
About the U.S. Regional Arts Organizations
The U.S. Regional Arts Organizations strengthen and support arts, culture, and creativity in their individual regions as well as across the nation. They serve the nation’s artists, arts and culture organizations, and creative communities with programs that reflect and celebrate the diversity of the field in which they work. They partner with the National Endowment for the Arts, state arts agencies, individuals, and other public and private funders to develop and deliver programs, services, and products that advance arts and creativity. Learn more at www.usregionalarts.org.