Given some questions qathet Regional District directors had about providing a grant to the Townsite Jazz Festival, directors heard a delegation from the organization’s founder.
At the regional district board meeting on Thursday, January 30, Townsite Jazz president Paul Cummings said the festival had put in a grant-in-aid request with the regional district and he wanted to talk about the inner workings of the event he’s so proud and enthusiastic about.
Townsite Jazz Festival has requested a $7,500 grant from the regional district. Cummings said he doesn’t know about another festival like this anywhere.
“It’s a model I came up with as a person who loves to go to jazz festivals and see professionals play, and as a music educator,” said Cummings. “I quite often go to something like the Vancouver Jazz Festival, go into venues and I wish my students could see that. There are other times I’m at high school jazz festivals where I wish there were professionals who could demonstrate these things for these kids.”
For the Powell River festival, Cummings said he hires artists and makes sure the musicians are diverse from one another. He finds musicians who can communicate well and demonstrate for students.
Cummings said he recruits schools from around the province to bring their jazz programs to Powell River. He said the students at the festival all perform for each other and it’s not a typical adjudicated performance where they go onstage, do a song and wait for an adjudicator to adjudicate.
“These kids perform a musical half-hour set,” said Cummings. “They do a set like they would at a club. There is all this sharing and enthusiasm for each other.
“Who’s sitting in the audience? Four or five of my hand-picked professional musicians who are listening to them, writing notes for them and will be doing workshops with them at a later time.”
Cummings said students also have the opportunity to open for professionals in the evening concerts. He said this is so special.
“When you go to see Walter Martella and Miles Black perform in the Rainbow Room, preceding them will be a jazz combo from Oak Bay Secondary School,” said Cummings. “They get to open up for these two pros, guys like Walter.
“For all of the ticketed concerts, we have high school groups and university groups that have the opportunity to open for big-name jazz musicians. That’s unique.”
There are also workshops that occur over the course of the festival, for local students to come and see.
“We just pack the Max Cameron Theatre and everyone eats it up,” said Cummings.
About 100 jazz students attend Townsite Jazz Festival annually, from Powell River and other locales, and they all have tickets to see the big shows. There are no festival fees for the students. Cummings said he wants to make the festival accessible for students.
“We’ve had so many magical things happen at the festival,” said Cummings, adding that it is expensive because he hires musicians, which costs about a third of the budget. Last year he spent about $25,000 on musicians.
“We look after our musicians and we want them to go back to where they came from and say, ‘hey, if you ever get a chance to go to Powell River and be a part of the Townsite Jazz Festival as a musician, or as an audience member, check it out because they really look after people,’” said Cummings.
He said the budget is growing, the festival is growing, and economic development is a big part of the plan. Recently, a person from Vancouver bought 20 tickets to the festival, he added.
There are 26 concerts scheduled for the festival and organizers have added a day, so it now takes place over four days.
“Our festival is still in its infancy,” said Cummings. “It is just getting off the ground.”
He brought up the matter of self-sufficiency. He said the festival is always going to have to apply for grants and go after sponsors from a number of sources.
“We are likely going to have to visit wonderful places like this to ask for support for our festival,” said Cummings. “I would like nothing more to say we don’t need the support, but that’s become more clear to me that it’s just not realistic. We’re always going to be needing to track down money.
“I hope people believe and understand enough about our festival that we work really, really hard to carry our weight financially. We’d definitely be in the hole without your support. I can’t thank this organization enough for that.”
Townsite Jazz Festival is now in its third year.
