An appeal from The Stowe Jazz Festival
Dear friends…
Some of you included on this email have not heard from me for years. And reaching out to you right now might seem a bit ‘phony’ and self-serving – it does to me – and possibly to some of you. While we don’t see each other or speak regularly, I like to think that we are all connected – and somehow in each other’s orbit…
Therefore, a ‘blanket apology’. Please understand that if this effort wasn’t so important to me, I would neither bother you or risk losing friends.
And to be clear up front, I am reaching out to you all because something I have been involved with for seven years, as its founder and director, needs help. Financial help. Yes.
So if you hit ‘delete’, I can’t say that I would blame you. 🙂 We are all asked so frequently, by so many these days for gifts or support. I get that.
In addition, all of you are ‘blind’ CC’d. And frankly, I would not take any offense were I not to hear from many of you. But please take five minutes to read this. Thank you.
In 1990, I tried to start a jazz festival in Stowe, Vermont. At an early meeting with the local ‘association’ that rubber-stamped such events, a member of said association remarked that they would not support it because they did not like Dixieland music. Period. End of meeting. A rather narrow view of Jazz, I thought. So I tabled the idea, knowing that it would be next to impossible to mount such an effort.
I left Vermont in 1997 and moved back to NYC, newly and happily married.
We returned in late 2016. I noticed fairly quickly that the Stowe ‘culture’ and ‘hipness factor’ if you will, had changed for the better. More diverse, more inclusive, a younger mentality. I did not move back here to start a festival but four months after arriving, I remembered my earlier idea and decided to run it up the flagpole.
I rented a mountain bike and pedaled my way through the community, reconnecting with old friends stopping at businesses to see if there was any interest. Within a few weeks, I had 49 local businesses that were interested in the idea and willing to support it. I also had the Town Of Stowe Select Board in my corner…So we launched in 2017, with 2 venues, about 60 or so guest musicians and lots of community engagement. We attracted about 400 audience members to the three-day event…and for much of it, we danced at night in the rain to Brazilian music from Chico Pinheiro and his band. Not many in the audience, true – but enough to see that there was potential…enough to keep going and try harder for 2018.
The ‘model’ for this festival was – and is – very different from most in that we are 100% free to the audience. No tickets, no cover charges, no parking fees. Why? There are a few reasons.
Families. If a family of four were to purchase tickets to go to most other jazz festivals, the cost per day, per person would be in the order of $75…often to sit hundreds of feet from an outdoor stage and watch a big screen. Most families would not attend with their kids…let alone visit Stowe and reserve lodging. In fact, many individuals that love music – this particular music – wouldn’t be able to afford three days or even one. Not to mention cover charges at some of our partner venues, food, parking…and that…doesn’t really spread Jazz at all. To stand on our MainStage, see hundreds of people, half of them kids, enjoying music and each other? There’s no reward greater, truly.
Community. Inviting these families and businesses to the event forges relationships within our community – quite simply, it helps glue us all together. And this is evident right now with incredible Vermont community support for Flood Relief. ‘Community’ up here is something special. We help bring that together. We do because we can.
The Arts. Jazz is American music. Period. But it has sub-genres that range from Brazilian jazz, to Afro-Cuban jazz, to jazz from European musicians heavily influenced by Classical and indigenous tradition…to Acid Jazz, Swing, Big Band, Bebop and yes, even to the dreaded Dixieland. So we invite bands of musicians that this region would never get to experience. Multi-Grammy winners, musicians from Peru, the USA, Cuba, Europe, Canada, Israel, Asia…and every year, those that have performed here BEG to return.
Education. We have an internship program for the younger members of our community that are into music. Some volunteer and are given Community Service hours by their schools. High school grads have been introduced, by us, to legendary musicians, backstage, at our events. Their heroes. Their role models and mentors. We have also arranged interviews at colleges like Berklee for these young musicians. And we’ll continue to do so. Next year we will offer clinics by musicians and producers and hope to have representatives of colleges here to check things out and engage with youngsters.
In 2018, seeing that we proved our model, I applied for 501c(3) status; we realized that to keep going, grow and become sustainable, we needed to be a non-profit entity, offering tax deductible donations and sponsorships. We also realized that this status would add credibility – and awareness – to our festival allowing us to apply for grants from such as the NEA, The Doris Duke Foundation, Vermont Council of the Arts, and a couple of Foundations that will remain anonymous. After much nail-biting, we finally received that Letter of Determination from the IRS…ironically, just a couple of months before Covid hit us all.
We survived the two years of Covid, moth-balling the SJF live events with the help of the SBA’s EIDL program. And we made our come-back last year.
In 2022, we had over one hundred musicians performing in 7 Stowe venues. Outdoors, at the Alchemist Brewery MainStage (our primary host and greatest friends…ever), at our secondary, ‘Pinnacle’ stage (for Vermont artists only), and at seven indoor, Stowe venues. And that year, we attracted between 3500 and 4000 attendees. We are, arguably, the summer’s most popular event in Stowe.
Each year our costs range from $140k to $170k. It is all going to expenses. Not one of our staff…no one is salaried, including me. We have been making this happen since 2017; it takes 10 months of very hard work to pull together. It all takes place in my home office – with Board meetings at local sponsor venues willing to donate space. Gee, a real office might be cool. I’d gain a guest room in fact (come visit!!).
So here’s the rub…
We are 4 weeks out. And we are $40k short. Why? A few businesses have had to limit their level of support due to recovery post-Plague. A number of ‘Angels’ have done the same. But in fact, the number of businesses with whom we partner has increased…and we are attracting more, starting to go national this year with the likes of Specialized Bikes and other brands anxious to get on the team. We are, indeed…growing.
We are, like many a ’start-up’ in that ‘make or break’, ‘tipping-point’ year. We anticipate some of our grants coming in – but not until the Fall or Winter. And we are re-doubling efforts in fundraising and cutting corners where we can – as long as they don’t impact the quality and production values of our festival. Always Jazz…Always Free.
So – it’s ‘my task to ask’. Not something I like to do; I am uncomfortable doing this. But we truly need your support – I am rather passionate about this (obviously). It is something that has no profit motive. It brings thousands together. Local businesses benefit – and supports us. A rare situation where everyone wins. Folks that ‘get it’…they just pitch in…again, because they can.
We believe – our Board, our volunteers, our community, our audience – we all believe that we are doing something right for the right reasons.
I would be more than pleased to fill you in on any questions that you might have. Anything – just please contact me. And please help us keep this thing going. And then come up August 25/26/27 and see why I am asking…it will blow your mind.
“Thanks’ would be rather insufficient. And I need to say again, should I not hear from many of you – I hope that you will excuse this rather intrusive and direct appeal. If you’ve actually read this far, I know you can see why I am doing all this.
But I have to say thanks anyway…
We have until August 14th to cover this shortfall. Below is our gofundme link – or if you prefer to send a check, I can send a receipt for tax purposes. We can also offer businesses ‘ad space’ in our print program and a presence on our website and social media pages. If that interests you, I can send you a ‘Tiers of Sponsorship’ document…
Finally (thank heavens, right?), please forward this email to any and all that might be interested in what we are doing up here!
Sincerely,
George
Our gofundme link:
Our website:
https://stowejazzfestival.org/
