A few weeks ago, I sent out an email asking musicians, fans and friends to share their thoughts on building a jazz audience at a time when public participation in the arts is shrinking, according to a recent NEA survey. Thoughts for club owners and venues to consider:

Jazz writer Andrea Canter suggests lower ticket prices for students:

“Student rush tickets for national shows at the Dakota are an obvious way to bring in a larger audience and build one for the future. $5 for any empty seat at show time for students with a college or public school ID?”

(Note: What about student rush tickets for national shows everywhere, not just the Dakota?)

Musician and composer Keith Lee suggests better prices for early sets:

“Fifteen years ago, rock sets were divided into all ages (early) and drunk (later). Now, you might as well call them employed (early) and unemployed (later). I don’t like being gouged by the Dakota for the early set times just because I actually need to be rested and sober to keep my job and pay rent.”

(We’re not picking on the Dakota, just reporting what people have said.)

Musician and composer Scott Fultz paints a big picture:

“Music in general has been starved in the school systems and mass media until all that remains in the collective cultural conscience is the American Idol aesthetic. ... Communities need to be willing to invest in stylistically agnostic music equivalents of sports leagues. If there’s a league softball game or league soccer happening, why can’t there be league music events? These could be:
• (for spectators) music appreciation gatherings with listening and discussion
• “calisthenics” -- essentially group lessons and communal practicing
• playing situations with an exploration of styles
• experimentations where untrained players take up instruments and try to create a collective musical noise. (For chrissakes, allow music to be stupid fun sometimes!)
• performances/discussions by local pros.

I realize there are community bands, but they aren’t really inclusive if you’re not a player of a minimum proficiency. What people need are the basics to make music a rewarding lifelong activity.”

Music lover Patricia Blakely wants to broaden definitions:

“Maybe in the interests of enlarging the audience for jazz, we could try enlarging the definition of jazz. ... We have an increasingly large immigrant population in the Twin Cities. They all bring their own music and dance traditions with them. There are tons of younger people in those groups. Seems like the audience for jazz could be larger and younger if the local jazz venues opened their arms to these groups.”

Simply by showing up at one or more of these events, you can do your part to build the jazz audience:

Minneapolis Trumpet Summit. This promises to be one of the sassiest, not to mention brassiest, events of the year. On horns: Kelly Rossum, Charles Lazarus, John Raymond, Jake Baldwin, and special guest Manny Laureano. Laying down the rhythms, the Dakota Trio: Tanner Taylor on piano, Gordy Johnson on bass, Phil Hey on drums. You’ll never see these eight musicians on the same stage again. Rossum and Raymond are moving to NYC; Baldwin is heading for the New England Conservatory; soloist and composer Lazarus is with the Minnesota Orchestra, where Laureano is principal trumpet. Friday, July 31, 8 p.m., Dakota, ($10).

Chris Morrissey Quartet CD Release. Bass player, composer, singer and songwriter Morrissey lives on many musical planets. Indie rock fans know him from Ben Kweller, Mason Jennings, Haley Bonar and the Bill Mike Band; jazz fans have been waiting for his first CD of original pieces (OK, Morrissey is only 28, so we haven’t been waiting that long). “The Morning World” is newly out on Sunnyside, the label many jazz greats call home. With Dave King on drums, Michael Lewis on saxophones, Bryan Nichols on piano. Friday and Saturday, July 31 and Aug. 1, 9 p.m., Artists’ Quarter ($12).

Traditional Jazz Church Service. I’ll let Dick Parker tell you about this: “It started out as a Red Beans & Rice gig several years ago for tuba player Ralph Campbell’s church, Linden Hills Congregational. The Beans are now pretty dormant -- two of our guys (Gene Adams and Dale Canfield) have died, and clarinetist Bob Watson (bandmate of Dick Hyman in a 1940s Navy ensemble) isn't really playing any more. And I’m not likely to make it this year, for the first time, because of family vacation plans. In recent years the band has included subs from the Mouldy Figs, the Jumpin' Jehosafats and the Pig's Eye Jass band, so I've taken to calling it Jumping Beans and Mouldy Pigs. I'm not sure if it's the only trad band in the annual summer church-service series at Lake Harriet.” Sunday, Aug. 2, 10 a.m., Lake Harriet Bandshell. Free.

Pamela Espeland keeps a Twin Cities live jazz calendar and blogs about jazz at Bebopified. She tweets about jazz on Twitter.