Our Story
Rooted in community. Inspired by music. Connected to the world.
A Musical Family, a Shared Purpose
Blues to Green grew out of a belief in the extraordinary power of music to bring people together, celebrate cultural heritage, and inspire positive social change.
Founder Kristin Neville grew up in Western Massachusetts and moved to New Orleans in 1990. There, she met Charles Neville, the legendary saxophonist and member of the Neville Brothers. She lived in New Orleans for several years, immersed in a city whose rich musical traditions reflect the extraordinary cultural contributions of the African diaspora.
The Neville Brothers brought the music and spirit of New Orleans to audiences around the world. Deeply rooted in their city’s cultural heritage, their music crossed geographic, racial, and cultural boundaries, creating shared experiences of joy and connection.
In the late 1990s, Kristin and Charles moved with their young son, Khalif, to Kristin’s hometown in Western Massachusetts. Although they had left New Orleans, its music, culture, and extended community remained central to their lives.
Hurricane Katrina: A Catalyst for Change
When Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, Kristin and Charles were living in Massachusetts. Many members of their family and their New Orleans community were directly affected.
The storm’s devastation exposed deeper, longstanding crises: racial and economic inequities, environmental degradation, and the vulnerability of communities facing increasingly severe climate-related disasters. Katrina was a stark warning of the growing impacts of climate change and the disproportionate burdens borne by communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis—often those with the fewest resources to prepare, respond, and recover.
For Kristin, the experience became a catalyst for action. Witnessing the suffering of people and communities she loved strengthened her determination to create an organization that would use music and the arts to foster connection, healing, and positive change.
Bringing the World to Springfield
Springfield, like New Orleans, is a city of extraordinary cultural richness and diversity, but also longstanding racial and economic inequities.
Kristin envisioned using music to celebrate Springfield’s cultural heritage, strengthen community connections, and contribute to the city’s revitalization. Inspired by the Neville Brothers’ ability to share music rooted in a particular place with audiences around the world, she wanted to bring that spirit of cultural exchange to Western Massachusetts.
Working with nonprofit and music professionals and community leaders, Kristin founded Blues to Green in 2013.
In 2014, Kristin, working closely with Evan Plotkin, President of NAI Plotkin and an arts ambassador in Springfield, launched the Springfield Jazz & Roots Festival as Blues to Green’s first program—a free annual celebration of music rooted in the cultures of the African diaspora.
The festival brings acclaimed musicians from across the United States and around the world together with artists from Springfield and surrounding communities. Through jazz, blues, gospel, Afro-Caribbean, Latin American, and other musical traditions, audiences encounter the histories and cultures that have shaped American music and continue to influence music globally.
Today, the festival brings thousands of people downtown each year, contributing to Springfield’s cultural and economic vitality while creating a welcoming space for people of different backgrounds and generations to celebrate music and community.
Honoring Charles Neville’s Legacy
Charles Neville passed away in 2018, leaving an extraordinary musical legacy and a spirit of loving kindness that continues to inspire Blues to Green.
As a member of the Neville Brothers and an accomplished saxophonist, Charles helped bring the rich musical traditions of New Orleans to audiences around the world. His music conveyed warmth, compassion, and a belief in the power of music to heal, inspire, and unite people. As his brother Cyril often reminded concert audiences, we are all part of one race—the human race. We are one family.
Following Charles’s passing, Blues to Green launched the Charles Neville Legacy Project in 2019, initially supported by a planning grant from the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts. Created to honor his life and music, the project has evolved into the Legacy Education Project, bringing acclaimed musicians from diverse cultural backgrounds into schools and community settings in Springfield and Holyoke.
Through performances, storytelling, dialogue, and hands-on music-making, students encounter the histories, traditions, and lived experiences that shape music from communities across the United States and around the world.
For young people who see their own cultural heritage, ancestry, or life experiences reflected in these artists, the encounters can be especially powerful. Meeting accomplished musicians who share aspects of their identity can expand their sense of possibility, helping them imagine futures they may not previously have considered. At the same time, students encounter cultures different from their own, developing curiosity, appreciation, and a broader understanding of our shared humanity.
Blues to Green is also creating a video archive and developing a curriculum for an online, downloadable version of the Legacy Education Project.
Blues to Green also preserves Charles’s life and music through its Celebrating Charles Neville program. The museum exhibition Horn Man: The Life and Musical Legacy of Charles Neville shares his story through photographs, memorabilia, music, and personal accounts. Blues to Green hopes to bring the exhibition to additional locations and is exploring the possibility of developing a documentary film about his life and contributions to American music.
At the 2018 Springfield Jazz & Roots Festival, Kristin (clarinet) and her sons, Khalif (piano) and Talyn (drums), joined family friend Avery Sharpe (bass) for a tribute to Charles. Today, Khalif and Talyn carry on his musical and cultural legacy through their own creative pursuits.
Together, these initiatives carry forward Charles’s legacy of artistic excellence, loving kindness, and cultural connection.
Connecting Art with Racial & Climate Justice
The experiences that inspired Blues to Green’s founding also shape its commitment to racial and climate justice.
Blues to Green brings attention to the contemporary realities facing the communities whose histories and cultural traditions have given rise to music of the African diaspora—including racial and economic inequities, climate injustice, and the ongoing work toward a more just future.
As the Springfield Jazz & Roots Festival developed, Blues to Green began incorporating programs that connected music and cultural celebration with social and environmental issues. Artist conversations, educational activities, collaborative art projects, and community partnerships explored racial injustice, environmental health, food sovereignty, cultural identity, and community resilience.
These efforts evolved into Arts for Racial & Climate Justice, using music, visual arts, documentary filmmaking, and community dialogue to connect global and historical challenges with the lived experiences of people in Springfield, Holyoke, and surrounding communities.
This work recognizes that racial and climate injustice are interconnected. But it is not only about confronting injustice. It is equally about celebrating the strength, creativity, joy, and resilience of communities—and the possibilities for change that emerge through shared culture and collective effort.
In 2024, Blues to Green received funding from Mass Humanities to expand this work through Beyond the Storm, a documentary centering the voices of Puerto Rican women in Western Massachusetts. The film explores connections between Hurricane Maria, displacement, environmental and health inequities, cultural identity, and resilience in Puerto Rico and the Springfield-Holyoke area.
Currently in post-production, Beyond the Storm is envisioned as the first in a series of documentaries sharing the stories of communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis. Through these films, Blues to Green hopes to connect experiences across geographic boundaries, amplify underrepresented voices, and illuminate both the challenges communities face and the cultural traditions, relationships, and collective efforts that sustain them.
Rooted Locally, Connected Globally
Today, Blues to Green remains deeply rooted in Springfield and Holyoke while drawing inspiration from artists, cultures, and communities around the world.
Through its programs, the organization connects local experiences with broader histories and contemporary challenges. It brings internationally acclaimed artists into dialogue with local communities, introduces young people to cultural traditions and possibilities beyond their immediate surroundings, and creates opportunities for people to recognize both the richness of their differences and the humanity they share.
Blues to Green aspires to extend the reach of its educational programs, cultural preservation initiatives, and community-centered storytelling to broader audiences.
Building on Charles Neville’s musical legacy and the vision that inspired its founding, Blues to Green continues to use music and the arts to center and celebrate the cultures of the African diaspora, nurture personal freedom, strengthen multicultural community, and inspire action for racial, economic, and climate justice.
At its heart is a belief that music and the arts can open minds, touch hearts, inspire possibilities, and bring people together in joy and shared purpose—reminding us that we are one human family, sharing one planet and a common future.