HELP SAVE THE SWANAGE JAZZ FESTIVAL NOW!
Based in the beautiful seaside town of Swanage, The Swanage Jazz Festival has played host to hundreds of musicians since 1990. Initially promoted by a group of fans, the event was started by the longstanding President, Roger Horton in 1990 with a small marquee, one smaller indoor venue, and about 300 tickets. Operating as a non-profit event, the festival expanded slowly for the first thirteen years as an informal association of friends, who were responsible for the entire cost. In 2003 it became a company limited by guarantee. As it continued to grow, the festival received a small number of commercial sponsorships from Enterprise Inns, and some local small businesses – and the festival is always grateful to the PRS Music Foundation for their support. The Festival has survived largely because of the support of fans: ticket sales and bar sales cover over 90 per cent of the costs, of which musicians’ fees and expenses make up 70 percent.
SAVE SWANAGE JAZZ FESTIVAL
This is not the first time that the festival has fallen on difficult financial times. In 2012, when, after months of rain, they had to abandon two of the tented venues at very short notice. As a consequence, they had to ask fans to help save the Festival and raised nearly £5000 to cover many of the extra costs and losses incurred. In 2017, it became apparent that the festival had come as far as it could within the constraints of the VAT limit, and as a result, the visiting musicians have been soaking up the declining wages, whilst the audience has been cheerfully doing without adequate standards of comfort and hospitality. Due to unavoidable VAT impositions on ticket sales, the festival has to either expand further, contract, or disappear.
NIGEL PRICE - A MAN ON A MISSION
A man with a career spanning more than 25 years, who has become widely acknowledged as one of the hardest working musicians in the business, award winning jazz guitarist Nigel Price will be Swanage Jazz Festival’s newest ingoing Director. Nigel has played at Swanage Jazz Festival many times in the past. When he heard the festival was coming to a close after 28 years, he just couldn't stand to hear it and offered to take over the directorship with a plan to make Swanage Jazz Festival bigger and better. With his offer being accepted, he is now making it his mission to see that this great festival continues.
SO WHY DOES SWANAGE JAZZ FESTIVAL NEED FUNDS NOW?
As Nigel states, “quite simply, currently, there isn’t enough money in the festival fund for 2018 to even get the thing going, let alone expand enough to negate the unavoidable VAT bill. The audience will be playing their part by soaking up much of the cost through increased ticket prices but this can only go so far. We need to find enough on top of that to make the festival run on a full tank of gas, rather than on empty as is now the case. Together, we can all make this happen through this 'crowd funding' infrastructure”.
On top of attracting the top jazz musicians from the UK and further afield, this festival brings a massive financial boost to the town, somewhere in the region of half a million pounds over the weekend (yes - really!) As Nigel states, “ if we all band together, share the load, each of us making a small donation then we can ensure that this important event on the Swanage calendar can continue far and away into the future. Not only that but with the proposed increase in capacity there will in turn be an increase to revenue for the town”. Let's make the tenting fabulous. Let's make the audiences comfortable. Let's ensure that the visiting musicians are paid properly. Let's give all these visitors to the beautiful town of Swanage a welcome to be proud of, I say we make it bigger and better”.
“But make no mistake. If we can't make this Kickstarter campaign a success
THERE WILL BE NO 2018 FESTIVAL”.
So lets support Nigel on his mission to save the Great Swanage Jazz Festival for many years to come. Please make your donation at:
or visit the website at:
https://www.swanagejazzfestival.co.uk
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https://www.facebook.com/swanagejazzfest/?pnref=story