It was the honor of a lifetime to lead the in-house design of the 2015 SFJAZZ Gala Featuring Joni Mitchell. My mother was a huge fan of her music. It is the soundtrack to some of my earliest memories.

Unfortunately, about a month before the event, Mitchell was hospitalized—and remained so for about month. We were unsure if she would be able to attend the event. If Joni couldn’t attend the Gala, we still wanted to send her a message of thanks from SFJAZZ and her fans. We decided to replace the existing jazz legend art installation across the street from SFJAZZ, with one focused only on Mitchell. We created a hashtag #ThankYouJoni to increase fan engagement on social.

I was responsible for the art direction and production of the outdoor installation thanking Joni for her lifetime of work. The windows of the vacant S.F. Unified School District building were covered with archival photos of Joni as well as our hashtag. Blue duotones were used as a nod to Mitchell’s iconic album Blue. A footnote was also added to remind viewers of SFJAZZ’s efforts to fund music education in public schools.

Shortly after the installation went up, a spontaneous outpouring began from Joni’s fans. One-by-one people began adding signs of thanks and well-wishes. The fan thank you notes continued to grow as the event approached.

Duotone archival images were also created to use on static clings for the event, visuals for lobby screens, as well as a slideshow presentation shown during the Gala. Joni’s lyrics provided inspiration to create visual content posted on SFJAZZ’s Pinterest board in advance of the Gala.

Overall, this project included: outdoor art installation, static clings, slideshow presentation, and Pinterest assets. In the end, a total of 650 people attended the 2015 Gala and AfterParty—raising $1.5 millon for SFJAZZ’s music education programs.

Additional press on this project appeared in: Haute Living, Hoodline, KQED, 7x7, SFChronicle, SFGate, and SFist.