Candlelight Jazz - South Finds a Larger Role in Growing Augusta’s G.R.O.W. Framework
Oct 1, 2026.
Candlelight Jazz - South Finds a Larger Role in Growing Augusta’s G.R.O.W. Framework
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Candlelight Jazz is entering a new chapter — one that positions the longtime music series as more than a concert experience.
Under Growing Augusta: Arts, Agriculture & Agency, Candlelight Jazz - South is becoming a cultural placemaking platform within the organization’s broader G.R.O.W. framework: Grow Local Economies, Revitalize Land & Communities, Organize Cross-Sector Coalitions, and Workforce & Food System Innovation.
The fit is strongest around local economies and community revitalization.
Rather than being tied to a single venue, the evolving Candlelight Jazz model brings live music into parks, community gardens, farms, neighborhoods, businesses and other gathering spaces. Each event creates an opportunity to pair local artists with local places while generating activity for musicians, vendors, makers, host sites and community partners.
“Candlelight has always been about music, but the music is really the invitation,” said Karen Gordon, Co-Founder and CEO of Growing Augusta. “We can use that invitation to bring people into a neighborhood, introduce them to a community garden, support a local musician or business, activate a park, or help people see a familiar place differently. That is where Candlelight connects directly to G.R.O.W.”
Culture as an Economic and Community Development Tool
Within the G.R.O.W. framework, Candlelight Jazz primarily advances three areas.
Grow Local Economies is reflected through paid opportunities for musicians and other creatives, vendor participation, partnerships with locally owned businesses, product placement and spending connected to host locations.
Revitalize Land & Communities is expressed through the intentional use of parks, gardens, farms and neighborhood spaces as cultural destinations. Instead of treating placemaking as a large capital project, Candlelight demonstrates how programming can change the way people experience and value a place.
Organize Cross-Sector Coalitions happens around the experience itself. A Candlelight event can connect artists, residents, farmers, businesses, property owners, nonprofits and public agencies around a tangible community asset.
The fourth G.R.O.W. area — Workforce & Food System Innovation — is not a requirement for every Candlelight activation. It may emerge through artist development, production opportunities, food vendors, farms or food-centered collaborations when those connections are authentic to the event.
That distinction is intentional.
“We don’t need every project to do everything,” Gordon said. “The framework gives us a way to understand what a project is actually accomplishing. Candlelight’s clearest job is cultural placemaking — using arts and culture to activate places, circulate dollars locally and build relationships around community assets.”
A Small-Scale Demonstration of a Larger Model
That approach makes Candlelight Jazz a practical demonstration of how Growing Augusta sees community development.
The process is relatively simple: identify an existing asset, activate it, bring people together, create opportunities for local economic participation and strengthen people’s connection to the place.
A jazz performance in a community garden can introduce residents to an agricultural asset. A neighborhood park can become a destination. A small gathering on private property can support artists and locally made products. A farm-based event can connect culture, food and land.
The scale may be small, but the underlying strategy is transferable.
For Growing Augusta, that is increasingly the point.
Candlelight Jazz becomes one expression of a larger philosophy: communities do not always have to build something new before they can create value. Sometimes the opportunity begins by recognizing what is already there — land, talent, businesses, relationships and places — and designing a reason for people to gather around it.
“G.R.O.W. is ultimately about connecting assets that already exist and helping communities put them to work together,” Gordon said. “Candlelight lets us demonstrate that in a way people can see, hear and experience.”
About Growing Augusta: Arts, Agriculture & Agency
Growing Augusta: Arts, Agriculture & Agency is a community-centered civic infrastructure and consulting practice working at the intersection of local economies, land, food systems, arts and culture, public engagement and community development. Its G.R.O.W. framework focuses on growing local economies, revitalizing land and communities, organizing cross-sector coalitions, and advancing workforce and food system innovation.