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Portland Jazz Festival canceled
Organizers of the Portland Jazz Festival have pulled the plug on the annual Oregon event after losing their title sponsor in April, according to local reports.
The 6th annual event—scheduled for February 2009—was canceled when sponsor Qwest announced it couldn't donate the $50,000 the company had been giving yearly to support the jazz fest since its 2004 inception.
Several returning sponsors also scaled back their contributions, apparently due to a tougher economy. Artistic director Bill Royston told The Oregonian, to make matters worse, no new sponsors have stepped in since the Portland Trail Blazers signed on in the summer of 2007.
Between Qwest pulling out, others reducing support, and no new sponsors, the festival was facing a $100,000 hole in its annual $686,000 budget.
Rather than scaling back the festival or skipping a year, the organizers voted instead to cease operations.
However, if the money were miraculously to come through, Royston said a team could still reassemble in time to put on the 2009 event, which had been slated to be the exclusive 70th anniversary celebration of the seminal jazz label Blue Note.
Last year, approximately 36,000 attended the jazz fest, which featured 20 ticketed shows and more than 100 other events.
