Legacy Student Access Fund – Al Minns Next Generation Project

Legacy Student Access Fund

Expanding access. Building cultural ambassadors. Carrying the legacy around the world.

For many of our Legacy Members, joining the Al Minns Next Generation Project (AMNGP) represents their first opportunity to travel outside the United States. For dancers who have historically had limited access to international travel, training, and cultural exchange, these experiences can be transformative—personally, artistically, and professionally.

We believe access to the global Lindy Hop community should not be determined by a dancer’s financial circumstances.

The Legacy Student Access Fund will provide scholarships and travel support that allow emerging Black dancers in the AMNGP community to participate in major Lindy Hop and Jazz Dance events around the world. These opportunities give students access to advanced training, mentorship, performance experiences, and relationships with dancers and communities they may otherwise never encounter.

Al Minns Next Generation Project

Carrying Al Minns' Legacy Forward

Al Minns was a pioneering ambassador for Jazz Dance. Through his extraordinary talent, generosity, and passion, he helped introduce the joy, creativity, and rich traditions of Jazz Dance to audiences and dancers far beyond the United States.

Today, his influence continues to resonate across Africa, South America, Asia, and Europe. Lindy Hop festivals around the world—many of which honor Al Minns by name—bring together thousands of dancers who continue to celebrate and build upon the traditions he helped preserve and share.

AMNGP has a unique responsibility and opportunity to continue that work.

Each year, we intend to send Legacy Members to influential international events as representatives and ambassadors of the Al Minns legacy. They will not simply attend festivals; they will bring with them the knowledge, history, musicality, and culturally grounded approach to Lindy Hop and Vernacular Jazz they have developed through AMNGP.

These exchanges also work in both directions. Our students will learn from international communities, encounter different approaches to the dance, build lifelong relationships, and return home with new perspectives that strengthen the broader AMNGP community.

Al Minns Next Generation Project

An Investment With Global Impact

The Legacy Student Access Fund ensures that talented young Black dancers have the opportunity to participate in a global cultural community—and that the global Lindy Hop community continues to have access to Black dancers who are deeply connected to the history and cultural foundations of the dance.

Your support helps turn a student into an ambassador, an opportunity into a lifelong connection, and Al Minns’ legacy into a living, international tradition.

By investing in the Legacy Student Access Fund, we are not simply funding travel. We are investing in cultural exchange, artistic development, representation, and the next generation of leaders who will carry Jazz Dance forward around the world.