Winnipeg jazz fest show to help fund slain girl's charity
$10 from tickets will go towards Ana Grace project, set up after Newtown shooting
A little girl who died in the Newtown, Connecticut mass murder will be remembered during Winnipeg's International Jazz Festival this June.
Ana Márquez-Greene and her family lived in Winnipeg for three years before moving to Newtown in July 2012.
That December, Adam Lanza gunned down 20 children and six staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Ana's father, jazz musician Jimmy Greene, is returning to be part of a special concert that will raise funds for a charity Greene and his wife started in Ana's name.
Jazz Festival organizer Paul Nolin told CBC Weekend Morning Show host Terry MacLeod he wanted to give Greene an extra reason to return to Winnipeg.
"I think it's just a great way to bring Jimmy back to town and show him some love," Nolin said.
"I didn't want to bring Jimmy back to town without in some way acknowledging the tragedy. I don't want that story to dominate a night of great music and as I say, love [is] what it's all about."
Nolin said Greene will part of a special show on June 16 at the Manitoba Theatre Centre with the Curtis Nowosad quintet.
"I can't really take too much credit for [the] idea," he said. "Curtis Nowosad contacted me over the winter months and said 'I've got this idea to bring Jimmy back to Winnipeg and include him in my show' and I thought that was brilliant and I hopped right on it."
$10 from every ticket sold will go to the Ana Grace Project, a charity that aims to prevent violence and promote recovery.