Sunny Sumter is President and CEO of the DC Jazz Festival (DCJF), whose signature programmes include the annual DC JazzFest, year-round education initiatives and the Charles Fishman Embassy Series. DCJF has been honoured with the DC Mayor’s Art Award for Excellence in Creative Industries.
A graduate of Howard University, where she studied music business and minored in jazz voice, Sumter has held leadership roles with the Aspen Institute, Smithsonian Institution, National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship and Rhythm and Blues Foundation. She is also an accomplished vocalist who has performed internationally and was host of Jazz Central on the BETJ network.
Her many honours include the Howard University Benny Golson Award, Sitar Arts Center Visionary Award, a DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Fellowship and the Aspen Institute Staff Achievement Award for Excellence. She has also been selected for prestigious leadership programmes including the DeVos Institute of Arts Management Fellowship and National Arts Strategies’ Chief Executive Program.
Sunny curates and presents special celebrations of the DC Jazz Festival’s here on One Jazz.
