Kravis Center Hosting Multimedia Exhibit

WPB Mayor Keith James and Kravis Center
CEO Diane Quinn (Kravis Center)

(Press Release) ​West Palm Beach, Fla. (November 10, 2025) The Kravis Center for the Performing Arts welcomed nearly 100 local dignitaries, community leaders and lifelong residents to explore its new, multimedia exhibition JAZZ IN UNEXPECTED PLACES – Untold Stories of Palm Beach County. The “love letter to Palm Beach County” is on display now in the Picower Foundation Arts Education Center of the Cohen Pavilion, Mondays through Fridays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., and after hours by appointment at 561-651-4364. Admission is complimentary.

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JAZZ IN UNEXPECTED PLACES, curated by Tracy Hyter-Suffern, former Executive Director of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, combines archival footage, immersive soundscapes, historic photos, album covers and contemporary visual art to vividly portray the powerful intersection of jazz music and the Civil Rights era. Local oral histories reveal how jazz shaped Palm Beach County’s music and culture during the Civil Rights era and continues to influence it today.  
 
The joyful evening of reunion, fellowship and celebration began with guests welcomed into the Persson Hall Lobby by music from The King’s Academy Jazz Trio before entering the exhibition space where they enjoyed beverages and passed hors d’oeuvres. Following an initial walkthrough of the exhibition, attendees gathered for welcoming remarks from Kravis Center CEO, Diane Quinn who then introduced West Palm Beach Mayor Keith James. Mayor James highlighted the historic importance of the exhibition and thanked the Kravis Center for its efforts in bringing it together for all residents and visitors. Diane Quinn then invited Ebony Chorale Founder and Director Orville Lawton, PhD to the stage where he spoke from personal memory about the significance of jazz and the Civil Rights era in Palm Beach County. The final speaker for the evening, exhibition curator Tracy Hyter-Suffern, addressed the history of jazz and its power to transform communities. She concluded by thanking everyone for sharing their collective artifacts and memories to help bring the exhibition to life.  
 
The evening concluded with all attendees exploring the original, contemporary artwork from Leonor Anthony and Anthony Bethel, along with rare vintage photos by Roberto Polillo. Dozens of longtime residents and alumni from the Roosevelt High School Class of 1967 gathered to listen to audio recordings and oral histories while watching historic images of Palm Beach County featuring themselves, friends and family members. Before leaving, guests were invited to add their own memories to the exhibition’s Community Wall, making jazz a living thread connecting us all.
 
JAZZ IN UNEXPECTED PLACES – Untold Stories of Palm Beach County runs through 2026. Exhibition admission is complimentary.  For more information, please visit kravis.org or call 561-832-7469. The Kravis Center is located at 701 Okeechobee Blvd. in West Palm Beach, FL 33401.