Sylwester Ostrowski

Sylwester Ostrowski is a cultural organiser, initiator of the founding of the Szczecin Academy of Art and jazz saxophonist. Throughout his life he has combined the roles of cultural activist and jazz musician. In 2000, after finishing music high school in Szczecin, Sylwester Ostrowski wasn't accepted to the Music Academy in Katowice (the only jazz department in Poland in those days). This made him stay in his hometown and start working in various fields connected with music: as a cultural organiser, music producer (of titles such as Circles by Piotr Wojtasik, for which he was given the Polish Phonographic Academy's Fryderyk Music Award) and cultural advisor of Szczecin’s mayor and city hall. He was the initiator and driving force behind the founding of the first artistic university in Szczecin, the Szczecin Academy of Art, which is the first Polish higher education institution which offers programmes in various artistic disciplines. Because the only way to found a public university in Poland is via an act of parliament, Sylwester Ostrowski was forced to devote himself fully to his new goals and objectives.