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2011 Guelph Jazz Festival a hit with sponsors, audiences and artists; city came alive like never before

 

As in previous years, the Guelph Jazz Festival and Colloquium proved to be a major success: internationally recognized, yet important to the continued cultural growth of the city itself with its unique concert series, topped off with the incredible energy and attendance at some 75 free jazz-tinged art performances and installations for the Festival's second annual Nuit Blanche.
 
It was the type of atmosphere-populated by a unified community of creative listeners and musicians- that led many attendees to passionately tell Ajay Heble (Artistic Director of the Guelph Jazz Festival) that the "city came alive like never before." And come alive it certainly did. Amidst the hurly-burly of young student crowds, downtown celebrating the end of frosh week, thousands of community members, travelers, artists, volunteers, and casual observers discovered, or rediscovered, what makes Guelph unique and, of course, sound so good. It was the unparallel eclectic energy and warm mood that lead Vancouver pianist, Paul Plimley, who performed at the festival on Thursday, to assert, "I wish there was more Guelph in Vancouver."

The music, the people, the connectivity all add to the vibrancy and cultural fabric of our city. The complicated production aspects and endless coordination details make up a sum collaborative effort of over 200 volunteers, permanent and contract festival organizers, community partners and many sponsors. Organizers list a whopping $160,000 of in-kind sponsorships, an increase from 2010. "Businesses benefit from all of the activity, particularly downtown" stated Director of Development and Marketing Anastasia Ziprick.  Sentiments echoed by Shelly Krieger, Owner of the popular Red Brick Café: "this year, for the first year, I really tried to make time to enjoy some events and talk to customers throughout to get ideas. Overall the Jazz Fest and Nuit Blanche are amazing, fun and good for business." 

Community partnerships with the Festival and Nuit Blanche flourish, in addition to major increases in attendance at Nuit Blanche events. These positive aspects are inter-related. "Although we clearly have a number of other objectives, festivals in small regional destinations often play an important role in tourism development and thereby in economic development" says Anastasia Ziprick. "For this reason, we receive invaluable support from Guelph Tourism, several provincial bodies devoted to tourism, and in 2011, we were fortunate to get major support from Canadian Heritage to work on a collaborative marketing project with the Downtown Guelph Business Association, Hillside Festival, Festival of Moving Media, Contemporary Dance Festival and Eden Mills Writers' Festival. We all have common objectives and offer something culturally significant to the city".

The festival continues to be met with critical praise, with JazzTimes columnist Josef Woodard writing, "Though still not as well-known as it should be, this festival-held in the lovely riverside university town of Guelph, an hour's drive west of Toronto-is one of the most important forums for the adventurous-jazz cause in all of North America." Big shoes to fill perhaps, but certainly a challenge the festival continues to meet, and often exceed, through non-mainstream programming and riveting, often subversive, performances.