by Glenn Tschimpke
Staff Writer
Local jazz fans will have to wait at least another year for the return of the Jacksonville Jazz Festival.
Last spring, show organizer and major sponsor WJCT rescheduled the annual November event to April 2002 in the interest of better weather and more available funding. The austere funding climate continued, and by summer, WJCT pulled out as the show’s organizer and sponsor. To keep the popular event going, WJCT chief executive officer Michael Boylan asked the City to take over the festival. While negotiations continue, jazz aficionados will likely have to wait until spring 2003 for the next major jazz festival in Jacksonville.
“I think with the success of the Jazz Festival, it was at the point in time where it needed to grow,” said Boylan. “In the long term, the community would be better served if the City runs the festival because it has the infrastructure to do it.”
Clouds began to gather over the festival early last year when the public television and radio station fell behind on fund raising. A less than robust economy prompted key sponsors to withdraw. WJCT had its own operational concerns and began a separate $7 million campaign to raise money to convert its Ch. 7 facility to digital broadcasting technology. At about $720,000 to run the show and break-even returns, push came to shove and the festival was put on hold.
“We were trying to make a clean break on it,” said Boylan of transferring the organization of the festival to the City. “We pretty much divested the production of the event to the City.”
While Boylan acknowledges the popularity of the festival, he reminds that television and radio are WJCT’s first priorities.
“It’s not our core business,” he said of organizing the festival. “We tended to put the accent on the wrong syllable. Some people only know WJCT by the Jazz Festival. We decided to focus our energy on our core business.”
With the November 2001 show canceled and WJCT officials giving up their primary responsibility as organizer, hope for an April 2002 event vanished as well. WJCT’s website notes that the festival will return this fall at the earliest. But the City liaison to WJCT, Mike Miller, points to next spring as the likely return date.
“It takes six to eight months to plan something like this,” said Miller. “That’s how much lead time is needed. There is no formalized Jazz Festival for 2002.”
Miller said the City is in the final stages of assuming the sole responsibility of organizing the festival, although negotiations have taken longer than anticipated. He did not know how much the event would cost the City, but stressed that it would sell sponsorships to defray costs just as WJCT did.
“Ch. 7 will still have the first rights to sponsorship,” added Miller.
When the festival does return, Miller said the event may expand beyond Metro Park with smaller satellite acts performing at different venues downtown like Hemming Plaza, the Landing or the Southbank.