Organized by JazzTimes and the Jazz Forward Coalition, the 2017 Jazz Connect Conference will be held starting at about 9 am on Thursday, January 5 and ending on Friday, January 6 at about 5 pm. The conference will be held at Saint Peter’s Church, which is located at 619 Lexington Avenue (entrance on 54th Street) in New York City. With a theme of The Family of Jazz, the conference features a series of workshops, panels and networking opportunities. The sessions are all geared to presenting new methods to enhance your professional standing, exploration of advocacy issues and best practices for expanding the audience for jazz. Attendees include presenters, artists, managers, agents, journalists, radio programmers, record companies, arts organizations, educators and other jazz professionals.

The Pre-registration rate is only $145 until December 22.

The host hotel is the DoubleTree Metropolitan at 51st & Lexington Avenue. The rates are only $109 for a queen bed and $129 for two double beds. The rooms are surprisingly spacious and luxurious. To reserve a room there, call (800) 222-8733 or (212) 752-7000 or go to www.dtnewyork.com and reference the Jazz Connect Conference room block, or group code JAZ. Rooms must be reserved by December 5, 2016 to receive those rates.