New partnership will present Indy Jazz Fest
By Jay Harvey
jay.harvey@indystar.com
Indy Jazz Fest has found a new presenting organization and promises a move away from high-priced headliners outside jazz and a greater focus on education, as well as concerts packed into a week before the two-day outdoor event.
The Indy Jazz Fest Corp. -- representing a partnership of the Jazz Kitchen, a Northside nightclub; Owl Studios, a recording company based on Monument Circle; and the Indianapolis Jazz Foundation -- is taking over the 10-year-old festival from the American Pianists Association, the Indy Jazz Fest's producer for the past six years.
"For the Indy Jazz Fest to grow and reach its potential," said APA artistic director Joel Harrison in a prepared statement, "a different management (is) necessary." He added that the organization wants to focus on supporting young American jazz and classical pianists, primarily through its fellowship awards program.
"The board decided we had to devote our energies to our core mission and how we might advance that mission locally, regionally and nationally," Harrison said in the statement.
The new partnership is negotiating with potential sponsors, including longtime title sponsor Kroger. According to David Allee, owner of the Jazz Kitchen, festival-related concerts will be presented in large and small venues around the city. "Clowes Hall, the Indiana State Museum and the Madame Walker Theatre are all very interested," he said.
"This will allow us to reach more people and expand our reach marketing-wise,'' Allee added.
Production costs of concerts during the preceding week will be the responsibility of each presenter. The festival organization will enlist major financial support for the outdoor festival, slated for late June on the Lawn at White River State Park. The lineup of artists will be announced in April.
The foundation will be heavily involved before the main events, beginning with a March 20 jazz concert for Indianapolis Public Schools students at Broad Ripple High School. An all-city IPS student band will perform at the festival.
The APA still will have an association with the festival it sustained through some difficult times: A slot on the schedule has been reserved for its Cole Porter Fellow in jazz.
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