Helene Cann is one of the founders of Outward Visions, Inc., a not-for-profit arts and education service organization founded in 1976. Following more than 10 years as a legal secretary and administrative assistant in New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. (where she worked on Capitol Hill for Senator Fred Harris), she has had a busy and varied 30 year career in the arts.

She began as the Publicist and Tour Coordinator for Outward Visions in 1976, and became Director of the Outward Visions Touring Program when it was officially established in 1977. This program arranged the first American tours for Sam Rivers, Anthony Braxton, the Art Ensemble of Chicago and the World Saxophone Quartet, to name a few. She held this position until the Program was ended in 1994. As Director of the Program she arranged U.S. tours for such artists as the Art Ensemble of Chicago on their own and with Women of the Calabash, the World Saxophone Quartet on their own and with African Percussion, George Russell's Sextet and George Russell's Living Time Orchestra, John Zorn's Naked City, Ali Akbar Khan and Steve Reich and Musicians, including Steve's first tour of Japan. She had particular success in placing artists in the jazz tradition on the Fine Arts touring circuit before it was a common occurrence.

In 1981 she provided publicity and tour coordination services to the Nikolais Dance Theatre as well as working as a freelance publicist for several jazz related concerts and activities, including one for the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians).

In 1982, in conjunction with Festival Productions and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Outward Visions, Inc. was co-sponsor of the Los Angeles Kool Jazz Festival - New Directions in Sound and Rhythm, for which Ms. Cann coordinated all publicity, wrote the program information on all of the musicians and generated more coverage for this one festival than all other Kool Jazz Festivals that year. Artists on this festival included Laurie Anderson, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, the World Saxophone Quartet, Lester Bowie's From the Root to the Source, James "Blood" Ulmer, Air, Roscoe Mitchell's Sound & Space, Muhal Richard Abrams, John Carter, Anthony Braxton and the Nikolais Dance Theatre.

In 1987 and 1988 she again worked with Kennedy Center Honoree Alwin Nikolais, this time as Booking Director and Company Manager of the Nikolais Dance Theatre, where she was responsible for arranging Nik's most successful touring season ever, including their appearance at the first Spoleto Festival in Australia and their first New York Season at the Joyce Theatre.

From 1987-1993 she managed composer Steve Reich, assisting him in one of his largest works: The Cave, which had its American Premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Next Wave Festival.

From 1993 to 1997 she was Co-Director of The Coltrane Project of Philadelphia, which was conceived by Marty Khan of Outward Visions, Inc. This project partnered seven community arts and cultural organizations in the City of Philadelphia, had internationally renowned visiting artists who had either worked with or were influenced by John Coltrane come to these organizations to work with their local ensembles to present new works in the spirit of John Coltrane as well as re-arranged Coltrane works. This Project culminated in a day-long free concert at the Annenberg Center of the University of Pennsylvania where the various works were premiered.

She served as Associate Editor of the Jazz sites gmn.com and jazzplus.com in 1999 and 2000, writing news stories and promotional copy, editing and proofing the site and selecting CDs for sale on the site and in the CD store.

Recent projects include publicist and coordinator for the Afro-Latino-Americas Festival in Tucson that provided over 30 workshops and concerts in 16 schools by internationally acclaimed artists and culminated in a free outdoor festival at an urban park where these artists performed; establishing, publicizing and coordinating The Transcendence Initiative (Dedicated to the Artistry & Spirit of John Coltrane), which presented the Oliver Lake Steel Quartet in a series of concerts and school workshops in Tucson in the Fall of 2003 and Spring 2004 and working on Straight Ahead: A Comprehensive Guide to the Business of Jazz which was published Spring 2004 and the accompanying Teacher's Guide with Suggested Assignments.

In 2003, Ms. Cann was appointed to the Board of the Arizona Humanities Council by Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, on which she served until 2004.

Ms. Cann is also a consultant to the arts and has lectured and held seminars and workshops for Arts Midwest, the New England Foundation for the Arts, Arizona Commission on the Arts, ASCAP, and JazzTimes. She was also a consultant for the National Jazz Service Organization's Technical Assistance Program.

She currently co-directs the activities of Outward Visions with her husband and partner, Marty Khan.

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"Straight Ahead"