Herbie Hancock laments the decline of arts funding in U.S schools

14 time Grammy Award winning Jazz great Herbie Hancock gave an impassioned keynote speech at the 6th Annual Jazz Education Conference in San Diego. Herbie called the decline in arts funding at U.S. public schools as “a national disgrace” as he addressed more than 1,600 people.

“Can you even imagine our existence without the arts?” he asked. “The result would be a bleak, soulless earth, struggling to communicate.”

With the backdrop of an illustrious career dating back over six decades and worldwide recognition, Hancock is the now chairman of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz and a professor at the Institute's Jazz Performance program at UCLA as well as patron and ambassador for several other organisations.

Stressing the importance of creative thinking, he urged music educators to better connect with the younger digitally connected generation by improving on out of date methods.