This year, an outdoor concert series is celebrating 30 years of jazzing up July.

Put on every summer by Metro Arts Alliance of Greater Des Moines, Jazz in July works with neighborhood associations around the metropolitan area to stage a jazz concert featuring local artists each day from July 3 to July 28.

Over the years, the group has added other aspects to the outdoor jazz series, including food vendors, children’s activities and space for visual artists to showcase their work, said Metro Arts Executive Director Kim Poam Logan.

But most important, the concerts are a way to highlight local talent, she said, adding that when the selection committee reviews performers’ applications, it makes sure there is always an Iowa tie.

“We celebrate what we have here and draw in other artistic folks,” she said. “It’s important that we cultivate our assets in the community.”

Because jazz means different things to different people, Poam Logan said Metro Arts works to include different genres of jazz music – Latin, vocal, instrumental and big band, among others – in the concert series.

Last year, the series hired 252 musicians in 31 different bands, and brought 21,825 people to 24 concert sites across the metro area, according to its website.

The main mission of Metro Arts, which is funded by Bravo Greater Des Moines, is to engage Central Iowans in the arts so it can strengthen the community, Poam Logan said. To do that, the group partners with local schools, businesses or organizations to provide educational art programming to students in Polk, Warren and Dallas counties.

For the last four years, its GreenArts programming has paired local artists with environmental education organizations, such as the Polk County Conservation Board and Des Moines Water Works, to put together conservation projects with an artistic spin for schools. Poam Logan said currently there are projects centered around recycling and the water cycle.

Metro Arts has also designed an after-school program for middle school students – ArtSmart. The five-week course gives students an in-depth education in various art disciplines.

Each fall, the group hosts the Metro Arts Expo. The free fine arts expo showcases the talent of about 100 national artists, who are judged through a jury process. Poam Logan said, in everything it does, Metro Arts wants to bring people and communities together through the arts.

“It’s a way to brand the community,” Poam Logan said. “We can build our creative, economic and social assets.”