Menu
Browse local events that have been funded by the City of Austin Economic Department’s Cultural Funding Programs.
Tap or Click the Filters icon 
to sort events by their funding sources.
The Kenny Dorham’s Backyard Blue Monday Blues Jam moves next door, inside the warmth of the Historic Victory Grill for the few weeks of Austin Winter! DiverseArts began East Austin’s longest-running weekly blues jam more than 15 years at the Victory Grill. With the establishment of the outdoors venue, Kenny Dorham’s Backyard, the jam has enjoyed many fair-weather seasons right next door on East 11th Street.
Each year, once winter sets is, we move the jam inside the Victory Grill in order to maintain the tradition and keep the players and audience warm after it’s too cold to perform outside at Kenny Dorham’s Backyard. Absolutely one of the best blues jams in the City, each week some of Austin’s best blues players and vocalists share the stage and perform a range of traditional blues, blue-jazz and soul. The jam is a professional-level open jam for locals and traveling artists alike, with sign-up beginning each week at 8pm.
The jam is hosted by Harold McMillan and Assorted Chocolates, featuring Darius Jackson on guitar and vocals. This ongoing series is a nonprofit project of DiverseArts and East Austin Creative Coalition; and serves as an active cultural preservation project aimed at keeping the performance of African American culture-based music alive and well in the African American Cultural Heritage District of East Austin.
