Expect changes for the 2016 Jacksonville Jazz Festival, scheduled over the Memorial Day weekend.
So far, the only firm decision made by the city about the May 26-29 festival is it will have a different venue. The Shipyards property is off-limits for events due to possible environmental issues, said Dave Herrell, sports and entertainment officer.
Herrell said the jazz festival and other city-produced events are up for evaluation to identify ways to make the events better for the audiences and the city.
A jazz festival focus group will meet Thursday, Herrell said. The city has invited business owners, event sponsors and representatives from the Downtown Investment Authority, Downtown Vision Inc., Visit Jacksonville, the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville and the JAX Chamber to participate.
The discussion is not open to the public.
The jazz festival outgrew its original site, Mayport Village, two years after it debuted in 1980. It was then at Metropolitan Park until 2009, when the city moved the event to the urban core, along Laura Street between Hemming Park and the Jacksonville Landing.
In 2014, the city again moved the festival, placing the main stage and vendor booths at the Shipyards, with another stage at Bay and Newnan streets. The same layout was used in 2015.
How to cover the costs of a multi-day music festival starring popular performers while offering the event free to the public has been a challenge since the beginning.
It’s an aspect the focus group might address, but based on history, there’s likely no way to make the event operate in the black.
In 1985 when Metropolitan Park opened, WJCT took over the festival with the condition from the city that it would remain a free event.
It was presented in the new riverfront venue next to WJCT’s offices and studios.
The public broadcasting station managed to break even or show a small profit most years. By the late 1990s, organizers had developed a sponsorship base of $300,000 per year, which allowed the station to cover the costs without ticket revenue.
Weather, however, was a factor. When it was sunny and mild, attendance could be 60,000 people who were buying food, beverages and merchandise.
If it rained, or as in some years a nor’easter hit Northeast Florida during jazz festival weekend, attendance and revenue dropped sharply, said Vic DiGenti, former WJCT vice president of special events and one of the show’s producers from 1993-2000.
“When the weather was bad, we washed out. We lost money a couple of years,” he said.
DiGenti said WJCT asked the city to take over the jazz festival after 2000, when the event lost its major sponsor, BellSouth.
After a two-year break, the city revived the festival.
Paying the bills after the annual event requires withdrawing funds from the Special Events Trust Fund, into which all revenue from events is deposited, Herrell said.
The fund is used to balance the books when revenue from an event doesn’t cover the costs.
According to the 2015 festival financial report provided by the city, the budget for the festival from the general fund was $296, 674. Revenue from sponsorships, concession and merchandise sales, VIP enhanced access passes totaled $360,040. That’s a total of $656,714 in revenue.
Expenditures for entertainer fees, advertising, promotion and other costs were $738,237.
Other costs totaling $165,600 were borne by city departments other than Special Events. Those were about $80,000 for police officers and fire and rescue personnel, $38,500 for additional staff time in the Special Events and Parks, Recreation and Community Services departments and $30,000 for private security services.
Herrell said the “all-in expenses” for the 2015 Jacksonville Jazz Festival was $903,833. The difference between festival revenue and direct expenditures was covered by trust fund expenses, shown on the financial report at $464,262.
While the festival isn’t expected to make a profit for the city — or even cover the expenses to stage the show — there’s a measurable economic impact from the event.
A study conducted by The University of North Florida Public Opinion Research Laboratory during the 2014 festival showed visitors from outside the Jacksonville area represented more than 30 percent of all attendees.
According to the survey, 20,000 people attended the jazz festival that year, with 5,800 coming to Jacksonville specifically for the event.
The out-of-town visitors booked 3,000 hotel room nights for the event and spent an average of $149 per day, contributing to the estimated $2.8 million economic impact of the 2014 festival.
On the street level, the festival created a substantial economic impact from 2009, the first year it was staged along Laura Street, until 2014 when the city moved the event to Bay Street east of Newnan Street with the main stage at the Shipyards.
“The jazz festival quadrupled our business every day in the café and in the bookstore,” said Jennifer O’Donnell, manager of Chamblin’s Uptown.
When the festival moved to the Shipyards, the additional revenue went with it, she said.
She said the store and other Downtown businesses depend on events such as the jazz festival, One Spark and Art Walk to add profit to the bottom line. Another advantage to staging the festival in the urban core is providing a better environment for attendees.
“There are more options for food and when it’s hot, people can pop into a store or the library and cool off,” O’Donnell said. “When it rains, where do you go in Metropolitan Park?”
The subject of the festival moving was discussed last week by the board of directors of Downtown Vision.
Jake Gordon, the advocacy organization’s CEO, said business owners he has talked to about the festival having to move again support returning it to the center of the neighborhood.
“Downtown businesses don’t benefit unless the festival is in the core,” he said.
Board member Steve Crosby said the benefit from the festival goes “way beyond” providing a weekend of free live entertainment.
“It’s one of the few opportunities to showcase the good things about the Downtown environment,” he said. “One Spark, Art Walk and the jazz festival are crucial to creating an image. Without events, we’re just 1 million square feet of empty office space."
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