Humanitarian

Currently, Danilo Pérez serves as UNESCO Artist For Peace, Cultural Ambassador to the Republic of Panama,Artistic Director of the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, and Artistic Director of the Panama Jazz Festival. In previous years, he served as Goodwill Ambassador to UNICEF

Danilo Pérez: A Man, A Plan, and A Canal

In the greater jazz world, Danilo Pérez is a respected pianist. In his homeland of Panama, he's a national icon and cultural ambassador, and not just for his artistry. Ever since he returned to perform in his war-torn homeland in the 1980s, he's seen the potential for jazz to be a vehicle for social change, and spent much of his time offstage seeding this vision in the form of youth music education programs. The Panama Jazz Festival he founded, for instance, doesn't just feature major international acts — it brings students from all sorts of backgrounds to share the stage, and funnels profits back to them.

Panama Jazz Festival: Música para el desarrollo humano

In this documentary, filmed at the City of Knowledge (Panama) in January 2016, organizers and speakers of the educational program of the Panama Jazz Festival and the Latin American Music Therapy Symposium tell us about the power music as a tool for social change.

Danilo Pérez, new UNESCO Artist for Peace

The renowned Panamian pianist and jazz composer, Danilo Pérez, appointed as UNESCO Artist for Peace on 20 November, 2012

Danilo Pérez: A Man, A Plan, and A Canal

Panama Jazz Festival: Música para el desarrollo humano

Danilo Pérez, new UNESCO Artist for Peace

Danilo Pérez Foundation

The basis of the work of the Danilo Pérez Foundation's music education and more generally, human development. Its purpose is to provide opportunities for young people to develop their full potential and lead productive lives. The values and attitudes that are essential Foundation promotes education and interpretation in music.

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Panama Jazz Festival

The Panama Jazz Festival provides a week of master classes by some of the finest institutions in the field, including Berklee College of Music, New England Conservatory, the Golandsky Piano Institute, and the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico. The event has also become a center for auditions for admissions and scholarships for the participating institutions.

Other institutions that have participated in the festival include the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the Sienna Jazz Foundation, and the Paris Conservatory.

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UNESCO Artist for Peace

The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, will appoint the renowned Panamian pianist and jazz composer Danilo Pérez as UNESCO Artist for Peace on 20 November (12.00 am. Hall Ségur – Ground floor) Danilo Pérez will be named “in recognition of his efforts to provide outreach music programmes to children living in extreme poverty in Panama, especially in his capacity as President of the Danilo Pérez Foundation, and his dedication to the ideals and aims of the Organization”.

UNESCO Artists for Peace are internationally-renowned personalities who use their influence, charisma and prestige to help promote UNESCO’s message and programmes. UNESCO works with them in order to heighten public awareness regarding key development issues and to inform the public what our Organization's action is in these fields.

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