Jazz Lab Summer Columbus

Where music, technology, science, and imagination come together.

SUMMER 2026 · COLUMBUS, OHIO

What Is Jazz Lab?

Jazz Lab is A Tribe for Jazz's hands-on learning model that uses jazz and music as an entry point into science, technology, engineering, art, and math.

Building on nearly two years of Jazz Lab programming across Central Ohio, Jazz Lab Summer Columbus brought the model to life on a larger scale—giving young people from youth-serving organizations across the region access to a diverse collection of hands-on learning experiences.

Young people don't just hear about new ideas—they experience them. Through creativity, experimentation, and play, students try, build, explore, make choices, solve problems, and discover what happens when they put an idea into action.

Like jazz itself, Jazz Lab combines structure with the freedom to explore. Each experience is designed to create a sense of belonging, invite active participation, and give young people opportunities to learn by doing alongside people who work in the fields they're exploring.

No musical experience is required. Jazz is the starting point—a way to make new concepts approachable, spark curiosity, and help young people move from knowing that to knowing how.

Jazz Lab Columbus at a Glance

979
Young People Served

Ages 5-18
Elementary, Middle, and High School Students

6 Days
of Hands-On Exploration

10 Creative Labs
Music + Science + Technology

10 Youth Camp Partners

6 Educational Partners

Ten Dynamic Summer Labs

PIXEL BEATS LAB

Music + Technology
Code it. Build it. Hear it.
Students explore the connection between coding and music as they create beats and build their own video game soundtracks. Along the way, they discover how patterns, sequences, rhythm, and creative choices can turn code into something they can actually hear.
In the Lab: Coding · Beat Making · Music Technology · Creative Problem-Solving
ECOJAZZ SOUND LAB

Science + Music + Technology
Listen differently. Experiment with sound. Code what you hear.
Students become sound explorers, investigating how sound is created, travels, and changes. Through hands-on experimentation, they connect what they hear to scientific concepts, then use block coding to arrange sounds, build patterns, and create new combinations of music and sound.
Along the way, students discover how science, technology, and music can work together—turning listening into experimentation and ideas into something they can hear.
In the Lab: Sound Science · Block Coding · Experimentation · Active Listening · Music Technology
AFRO-FUTURISTIC CITY STUDIO

AI + Art + Music + Technology
Imagine it. Design it. Build the future.
What might the city of the future look, sound, and feel like? Students use artificial intelligence and other creative tools to imagine possibilities and bring their ideas to life. As they design their futuristic cities, they make choices, solve problems, build on ideas, and explore how technology can become a tool for creative expression.
In the Lab: Artificial Intelligence · Design · Creative Technology · Imagination · Problem-Solving
JAZZFAB LAB

Music + Engineering + Design
Imagine it. Design it. Build it.
Students become inventors as they explore how music, engineering, and design come together to turn ideas into something real. Through hands-on building, students experiment with materials, make design choices, solve problems, and adjust their creations as they discover what works—and what they might do differently.
Like improvisation in jazz, the process encourages students to respond, adapt, and keep creating when the first idea doesn’t go exactly as planned.
In the Lab: Engineering · Design Thinking · Hands-On Building · Problem-Solving · Improvisation
VIRTUAL REALITY MUSIC MAKING

Music + Technology
Step inside the music. Experiment with sound. Create in a whole new way.
Students enter a virtual music-making environment where they can create beats, build melodies, layer sounds, and experiment with musical ideas in an immersive digital space. Using virtual reality as their instrument, students explore how rhythm, sound, and technology work together while making creative choices and shaping music of their own.
No instrument experience is needed—just curiosity and a willingness to try something new.
In the Lab: Virtual Reality · Music Creation · Rhythm & Sound · Digital Technology · Creative Exploration
CONGA DRUMMING

Music + Culture
Find the rhythm. Feel the connection. Make music together.
Students step into the drum circle to explore rhythm, musical traditions, and the power of making music as a group. Through hands-on conga drumming, they learn rhythmic patterns, listen and respond to one another, and experience how individual parts come together to create a shared groove.
As confidence grows, students experiment, improvise, and add their own musical voice—discovering that rhythm is not only something you play, but something you create together.
In the Lab: Rhythm · Cultural Exploration · Percussion · Collaboration · Improvisation
MIXED MEDIA LAB

Art + Social-Emotional Learning
Mix it. Make it. Express what’s uniquely yours.
Students explore color, texture, materials, and artistic techniques as they create mixed-media works that reflect their own ideas and perspectives. Through hands-on artmaking, they make creative choices, experiment without needing a single “right” answer, and use visual expression as a way to explore thoughts, feelings, and identity.
The process encourages students to trust their ideas, take creative risks, and recognize that—as in jazz—individual expression is part of what makes the work meaningful.
In the Lab: Mixed Media Art · Self-Expression · Creative Choice · Social-Emotional Learning · Artistic Exploration
REMIX THE CODE

Music + Coding
Write the code. Build the beat. Make the music.
Led by music producers with backgrounds in computer science, students discover how coding can become a tool for musical creativity. Using Georgia Tech’s EarSketch platform, they learn foundational concepts in JavaScript and Python while using code to arrange sounds, build beats, and create original music.
As students experiment with their code, they hear the results in real time—making changes, solving problems, and discovering how computational thinking and creative expression can work together.
In the Lab: JavaScript · Python · Music Production · Computational Thinking · Creative Coding
REVERB LAB

Science + Music
Your voice is an instrument. Experiment with sound. Create together.
Students use their own voices to explore the science and art of sound through rhythm, pitch, vibration, resonance, and vocal experimentation. As they listen, respond, and create together, students discover how individual sounds can be shaped, layered, and transformed into a shared musical experience.
The lab turns scientific concepts into something students can actually hear and feel—while encouraging them to experiment, improvise, and build on one another’s ideas.
In the Lab: Vocal Music · Sound Science · Collaboration · Improvisation · Creative Expression
FUTURE PRODUCERS' LAB

Music + Audio Engineering
Find your voice. Tell your story. Produce your sound.
Students step into the roles of songwriter and producer as they explore how an idea becomes an original piece of music. They experiment with lyrics, rhythm, melody, and sound while using audio-production tools to shape, record, and develop their own creative work.
Along the way, students discover how technology can amplify their ideas—building confidence in their creative voice while learning how artists and producers make choices that bring a song to life.
In the Lab: Songwriting · Audio Production · Storytelling · Music Technology · Creative Expression

Learning by Doing

At Jazz Lab, the activity is only the beginning. Each experience gives young people opportunities to explore unfamiliar ideas, make choices, work through challenges, learn alongside others, and discover what they can do.

Creativity

Students turn ideas into something they can see, hear, build, or share—experimenting, improvising, and discovering that there is often more than one way to approach a challenge.

Collaboration

Students learn with and from one another—listening, sharing ideas, responding in the moment, and building on what others contribute.

Critical Thinking

Students ask questions, test ideas, notice what works, make adjustments, and try again—learning that an unexpected result isn't the end of the process. It can be the beginning of the next idea.

Hear it from the
Jazz Lab Community

The story of Jazz Lab is best told by the people who experience it. Hear from young people, educators, and community stakeholders about what happens when curiosity,
creativity, and hands-on learning come together.

“It’s been a great experience— full of opportunities, full of skills to gain…business, communication skills…traits for us to be ready for the workforce.”

— Timia Shedwick, Rising Senior, Columbus City Schools

Thank you to Our Funders

Jazz Lab Summer Columbus was made possible through generous funding from the City of Columbus Summer Youth Programming Grant and AEP Ohio. Their investment helped bring hands-on jazz and STEAM learning experiences to 979 young people across Columbus.