Meet the Team

Ouida Joi, Founder/Executive Director

Ouida Joi is a Transformative Improv Performance Artist, writer, dancer, and Poetic/Jazz vocalist. Her life mission statement is: "To create opportunities for individuals to experience joy, peace, and deeper understanding of each other, and themselves through the transformative power of Jazz, and the arts."

​Ouida Joi is an avid Jazz lover, and in early 2009 she founded the Spirit/ARTS! Project (SA!P). Through SA!P, she produced "Spirit/JAZZ!, a monthly Jazz showcase featuring and spotlighting emerging and professional women musicians, vocalists, and poets. Musicians included well-known professional San Francisco/Bay Area artists such as, Mary Watkins, Tammy Hall, Cava Menzies, Victoria Theodore, Donna Keiko Ozawa, Robin Nzingah Smith, Jan Martinelli, and Stephanie Lee. Vocalists included: Anna Maria Flechero, Lady Sunrise, Queen Michelle Jordan, and Lisa Cohen.

Ouida Joi was the Administrator for Fifth Stream Music (FSM), the home of the Asian American Orchestra (Jazz) where she co-founded the Voices of a Dream Ensemble with FSM Founder and Artistic Director, Dr. Anthony Brown. She also founded and managed “2310 Studio”, a visual and performing arts space in Alameda, CA. She has an M.A. in Management and a B.A. in Behavioral Science/Psychology (Magna Cum Laude). She has studied the Expressive Arts, and was involved in the InterPlay community for many years.

Originally from Brooklyn, NY, she spent the last four decades in the San Francisco/Bay Area. She relocated to Delaware a little over eight years ago. She is proud to be an Air Force and Army National Guard veteran. She is excited to bring all her talents, skills, experiences, and enthusiasm to Central Delaware JAZZ!