Jazz Fest To Expand To Three Days

For 16 years, from 1992 to 2007, Syracuse Jazz Fest ran for three days, but when the recession swept the nation and Central NY in 2008, the festival streamlined, trimming its format back to two days. Though the local economy remains stagnant, Jazz Fest refuses to follow suit, and vows to ramp the festival back up to three days this June.

“Thanks to a host of sponsors and supporters, we’re expanding Jazz Fest back to three days this June at OCC,” said festival Artistic Director Frank Malfitano. “And we think this is a major story line for a lot of reasons,” he continued. “It shows growth, not stagnation, and it also shows forward movement. We aren’t just treading water, we’re swimming, and vigorously! A lot of arts organizations are just hanging on, trying to stay level, and trying to avoid cuts, but we’ve decided this is the time to grow.”

While members of the Jazz Fest Board of Directors realize the recession is a concern, Malfitano said Jazz Fest has targeted its growth and expansion plan to Central NY-based corporations where gift-giving decisions are made locally. The ultimate goal, he said, is to ensure the festival’s long-term sustainability.

Since the 2009 festival concluded with a stellar set by superstar saxophonist Kenny G last June, Malfitano has been lobbying non-stop with local, state and federal elected officials for the past 32 weeks, while simultaneously ‘selling’ the festival’s new growth and expansion model to corporate representatives from the private sector as well.

“More money will enable us to produce a festival with more days and nights and give us the ability to program even bigger-name headliners,” he said. “The combination of bigger-name talent over three days and nights, with a greater marketing and advertising push, both nationally and regionally, will result in increased attendance, more tourism, and more visitors from outside the region coming here for the event. Those visitors will translate into more money from outside the market being spent here in CNY. That means that Jazz Fest can potentially become an important economic engine for the region, and one capable of generating even greater economic development for CNY.”

“This year, sponsors are responding positively to the festival’s new expansion plan,” Malfitano said, “because we have a proven 28-year track record, and because they know it’s not hypothetical, theoretical or conjecture. We previously expanded Jazz Fest for our 25th anniversary in 2007, when our budget swelled to $650,000, and we headlined with Bela Fleck, Dave Brubeck and Aretha Franklin, drawing nearly 90,000 attendees over three days, which generated $5.5 million in economic development. So the precedent for this new model was set. Now all we need to do is get the annual budget back up to that previous level and cast a wider net to get the word out.”