Litchfield Jazz Festival founder Muir to be honored

HARTFORD — The founder of the Litchfield Jazz Camp and the annual Litchfield Jazz Festival will be honored by the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame with two separate events this fall, according to a press release.

Vita West Muir, the executive and artistic director of Litchfield Performing Arts, will be honored at a statewide awards presentation in Hartford Nov. 5 and also at a second one in Litchfield on Dec. 15, where she is the main honoree, according to the release from the performing arts organization.

Muir began her working life with a degree in biology from Fordham University as a writer documenting the biomedical results of Apollo for NASA, according to the release. She later freelanced for national magazines.

“She made the transition to arts presenter serendipitously when she moved her family into a large historic home in Litchfield and welcomed the community in for classical concerts in 1981,” the release continues. “That effort became a notfor-profit in 1983.”

Muir founded the Litchfield Jazz Festival in 1996, and in 1997 she launched the Litchfield Jazz Camp, which hosts 300 students for a month each summer at The Gunnery in Washington, according to the release. The camp also provides need-based scholarships for music students.

Muir still develops the programs at Litchfield Performing Arts and serves on the boards of several Connecticut nonprofits. The programs serve students across the state.

Muir’s “Project Poetry Live!” event served thousands of middle schoolers across Connecticut for 25 years and received a major U.S. Department of Education award, according to the release. Muir herself has also received numerous awards for her work, including the Governor’s Award for Culture and Tourism and awards from Chamber Music America, the National Endowment for the Arts, the first CultureMax Lifetime Achievement Award and the Jazz Journalist’s Association Hero award, according to the release.

The Litchfield event, called Jingle & Mingle, is set for Dec. 15 at 6:30 p.m. at Litchfield Community Center. It will feature music by jazz bassist and vocalist Nicki Parrott, formerly of the Les Paul Trio. It will also include cameos by top Litchfield Jazz Campers. Festivities start with a cocktail hour and end with dinner and dancing. Muir’s award will be presented by Sarah Smith Lubarsky, executive director of the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame.

Tickets for the event are $85 and support the Litchfield Jazz Camp. Reservations are advised. Call 860361-6285 or order online at Jingle2018.eventbrite.com.

Carol Kaliff / Hearst Connecticut Media Guitar instructor Andrew Lipow spends time with Ben Stevens, of New Milford, at the Litchfield Jazz Camp in 2014.

Courtesy of Litchfield Performing Arts Vita West Muir