[Dixielandjazz] New Orleans Jazzfest difficulties - long article

[Tim Eldred]

With all the discussion on festivals, types of music offered, etc., here is an article from nola.com on a festival that offers a wide variety of music and is still having trouble...

Tim Eldred
Roseville, CA

Jazzfest singing the fiscal blues
Foundation short on cash for 2005 
Sunday, August 15, 2004 
By Rebecca Mowbray
Business writer 
With losses from this year's New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival running between $800,000 and $900,000, the foundation that owns the festival says it doesn't have enough money to cover start-up costs for the 2005 festival. 

"We do not have the $2 million to roll out the festival," said Byron Hughey, treasurer of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation. "But there will be a festival. I can assure you of that." 

 
The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation is in financial straits because the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the U.S.-led war in Iraq hurt attendance and cut into profits from the 2002 and 2003 festivals. Rather than scale back its plans for charitable donations, the foundation tapped into its financial reserves to meet those obligations. As a result, the foundation didn't have much left to cover losses tied to this year's event, which was hurt by several days of rain. 

Now the organization that has doled out $7 million in the past decade for music education, musicians' health and street festivals finds itself in the odd position of asking for assistance. In recent weeks, the group has approached the cash-strapped city, the state and the tourism industry for money without much success. 

The new executive director of the group, Don Marshall, who started work July 1, said the situation is "a wake-up call" and that patrons can expect to see major changes. 

On the foundation side, he plans to launch a "Friends of the Fest" membership organization in September and become aggressive about applying for grants to try to stabilize the group's finances. 

On the festival side, Marshall said it's time to re-evaluate the festival's marketing and sponsorship plans, its band lineup and nighttime concerts, as well as its layout at the Fair Grounds. 

Nothing is off the table for discussion -- not even the relationship with Festival Productions Inc., which has produced the annual music festival since its inception in 1970. 

"Our contract has expired, and we're in negotiations at this time," Marshall said. 

Speaking from a trailer at the 50th annual Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island, Quint Davis, who is president of Festival Productions Inc. -- New Orleans and the producer and director of Jazzfest, said discussions are going well. "We've given them the proposal. It's a more detailed proposal than in the past," Davis said. "It seems to be progressing favorably, we hope." 

As part of that proposal, Festival Productions has offered to help the foundation with its financial woes, as it did after the 1972 festival, the last time the festival ended up in the red. 

"In our proposal, we have offered to put up all of the money that it takes, not only to put up the money (to start the festival) but to cover potential losses from the festival," Davis said. "We're not going to let anything happen to the festival." 

But other groups say they're not sure they can help. The city has told the foundation to exhaust all other options first. Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu's office has offered marketing assistance through the state Office of Tourism but no cash. The tourism industry says it doesn't have the money to help but that it will do what it can. 

"We want to support them in any way we can," said Beverly Gianna, vice president of public affairs at the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau. 

Hughey, the foundation treasurer, said he has been disappointed by the response, especially since Jazzfest creates economic benefits for the city and doesn't get the financial support the Nokia Sugar Bowl or the Essence Music Festival do. 

Sitting in the foundation's Rampart Street offices, Marshall said there are many opportunities to improve the festival and the foundation's financial condition. 

One prime area to investigate is looking for a title sponsor, and Marshall says he plans to hire a consultant who specializes in finding corporate naming opportunities. He said he recognizes that the topic has been controversial in the past, but he says it can be done without destroying the world-famous New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival name. 

"There's always a lot of talk about a title sponsor, and that always sends chills up people's spines. We will never be anything but the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, but we may one day be the 'New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival presented by X,' " said Marshall, who worked previously as the director of the arts management program at the University of New Orleans. 

In another revolutionary change, Marshall said he now believes it is necessary to promote the festival. The event had always been able to rely heavily on word-of-mouth advertising. But in recent years, Marshall said, new outdoor music festivals have popped up nationwide and siphoned potential visitors from Jazzfest. In addition, international visitors, who once made up 10 percent of the event's out-of-town guests and were known as generous spenders, haven't returned to the festival since the Sept. 11 attacks. 

Another area open for re-evaluation is the nighttime concerts, which have been around since the early 1970s. Over the years, clubs such as the House of Blues and Tipitina's have come up with night concerts of their own, and the Jazzfest concerts have failed to respond with something different, Marshall said. This year, much of the Jazzfest losses came from the night concerts -- and those concerts weren't affected by rain. 

The musical lineup at the festival also needs retooling, Marshall said. He says the festival has been too heavy on bands from the 1970s and 1980s, and that it needs to tilt toward attracting new and younger audiences. 

Without turning the festival into a jam-band session, Marshall said, there are many critically acclaimed new bands that fit squarely into the Southern and roots music theme of the festival. Bluegrass, alternative country and Tex-Mex would all be legitimate genres for Jazzfest to consider, he said. 

Marshall also says it's time to add more picnic tables and shade to the festival grounds. 

Changing the layout of the festival also could "sharpen" the festival's cultural impact. Marshall would like to partner with groups such as the Ogden Museum on cultural exhibits and the fledgling food museum on culinary displays. He would like to see food and cultural displays that best fit with the different stages grouped together, such as putting soul food and artwork of the Mississippi Delta near the Blues stage. "Each of the staging areas should be its own mini-festival," he said. 

In short, Marshall said, the idea is to find new ways to focus on regional music and culture. 

"We're exploring new, creative ideas that would enhance the festival but not change its focus," he said. "The local heritage and culture will always be the foundation of the festival."