Ajay Heble, jazz musician and international expert on the subject of improvisation, accepted a major national prize Tuesday on behalf of a large team.
The University of Guelph professor in the School of English and Theatre Studies, won the $50,000 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Impact Award in the partnership category.
“Many years of hard work, dedication and teamwork have been awarded here today,” Heble said in a telephone interview from Ottawa, where the awards ceremony was held. “This award is for my colleagues and partners, the whole research team.”
The cash grant is to further the work of Heble’s International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation at U of G. He founded it in 2013.
The institute’s work is recognized around the world, and has helped foster a global dialogue on the artistic and social relevance of improvisation.
Heble said that improvisation had been devalued and even disparaged historically. But there has been a shift in understanding in recent times, and its “powerful and vital social implications” are now better understood.
He said there are many lessons to learn from the process of improvisational collaboration in the arts, lessons that have broader societal implications. The inherent qualities of successful improvisation – the ability to listen, to understand, and to be open - just might hold the key to creating unity and cooperation in our world.
Heble is also the founder of the Guelph Jazz Festival, an annual event that encourages many forms of jazz, including the improvisational kind. It includes a colloquium that gathers together researchers, artists and members of the public for discussions on the power of improvisation in the creation of music, art, and community. Heble served at the festival’s artistic director until this year.
He said he is proud of the award for the recognition it brings to the subject to improvisation.
