[Dixielandjazz] Arts Financing Cuts

[Stephen G Barbone]

On Mar 25, 2012, at 1:24 PM, dixielandjazz-request at ml.islandnet.com  
wrote:

> Bert Brandsma <mister_bertje at hotmail.com>
>
> I guess okom has never been very much supported by government, only  
> companies sometimes could use it for some purposes.It's the other  
> professional music scenes that really are hit hard.- the symphony  
> orchestra's loose app. 50% of their places. (in the Netherlands)- it  
> is considered to bring the 3 big army orchestra's in this country  
> back to one.
> So the steady jobs are going away.The next round will be the music  
> schools, no doubt about it.
> But strangely enough our Dixieland band plays on, almost as nothing  
> is happening. There are less company gigs, but more private, when  
> compared to say 5 years ago.
> And it looks somehow like festival organisers don't have too much  
> problems finding support, since we are booked pretty early by them  
> this year.

Dear Bert:

The OKOM situation in the USA is different from that elsewhere. Here,  
for the most part, ticket sales at OKOM festivals do not cover the  
costs of the bands, much less the entire festival production.  
Therefore festivals that survive today, must get help from corporate  
sponsors as well as local government help whenever possible.

In the past couple of years, the number of OKOM festivals in the USA  
has declined by about 20% because of inability to cover costs. Even  
professionally run, for profit jazz festivals must get corporate help  
in order to continue. The Newport Jazz Festival and  Monterrey Jazz  
Festival are prime examples. Without monetary assistance in addition  
to ticket sales, they would quickly go bankrupt. Corporate  
Sponsorship, Marketing Partnerships, In Venue Advertising Sales, or  
just plain Contributions, all help cover the costs of these festival.

The music itself, while it brings money in, does not cover the  
production costs of the typical USA Jazz Festival. That is in large  
measure, why Sweet  & Hot Festival in Los Angeles, and several other  
lesser festivals  recently cancelled their 2012 events.

Sponsors / Partners for Monterrey can be viewed at  (note the small  
print foundation partners at bottom of the page)

http://www.montereyjazzfestival.org/2012/partners

or see their Marketing Partnership opportunities at:

http://www.montereyjazzfestival.org/2012/partnerships/opportunities

or see their "contribute" page at:

https://www.montereyjazzfestival.org/2012/contribute


I would say these folks know how to run a festival. <grin>


Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband