Jazz North awards 10 bursaries to promoters in north
We are delighted to announce the awardees of our Promoter Bursary, a recent initiative to support promoters to work towards achieving diversity and representation with their programmes and projects.
Geni Lamb, PARRJAZZ, Liverpool
We are delighted that this money will fund us in promoting two UK diverse, up and coming jazz acts within the Liverpool City Region.
PARRJAZZ is spread through a variety of venues and with a wide number of local, national and international guests. Over the past few years we have worked closely with Liverpool venues; Studio 2-Parr Street, The Kazimier Stockroom , Phase One, Ma Boyles, The Philharmonic Hall, The Tung Auditorium, The Invisible Wind factory, The Jacaranda, Future Yard, District and many more.
It is our intention always to book a diverse roster of artists and provide a platform for expression to an inclusive and equally diverse audience. We maintain occasional free entrance concerts alongside our ticketed events and constantly strive to pay musicians a fair fee.
Emily Burkhardt, NQ Jazz, Manchester
NQ Jazz has been promoting the highest calibre of UK, EU and international contemporary jazz & improvising artists for Manchester audiences since 2017, and Jazz North’s support comes at a crucial time as we reemerge from the challenges of the pandemic. Their funding will support our continued commitment to diverse programming, with a May mini-series including artists Trish Clowes, Hugh Pascall and Mark Kavuma, at our new partner venue The Yard in Cheetham Hill, Manchester.
Martin Sunley, The Milton Rooms, Malton
We have chosen to focus this generous bursary from Jazz North on something that will attract a whole new audience from among our extensive local East European population, working directly with them on the choice of jazz performer, and promoting in an effective way.
Malton’s arts, entertainment and community hub, The Milton Rooms, is moving at a fast pace into the 21 st century thanks to a £500,000 refurbishment grant from Ryedale District Council and with a new focus on widening out the music offer. Audiences and performers will find state of the art upgrades to the lighting and audio systems while the main hall and bar have been totally redecorated, new and refurbished toilets created throughout the building with improvements to accessibility.
Chair of the Milton Rooms trustees, Ray King, said: ‘’These infrastructure improvements will truly put us on the map as a community arts venue, but equally important is creating a varied, wider music offering.
Harkirit Boparai, Ouroboros, The Crescent, York
The Crescent Community Venue is a fully licensed bar, concert and events venue. A former Working Men’s Club, it has a long history of community spirit and musical entertainment spanning over 100 years, and since re-opening has rapidly developed into a key component of York’s music and cultural life. With this funding, Ouroboros is putting together a special summer show of jazz at The Crescent in York this August…. more news to come!
Bob Walker, Scarborough Jazz
On behalf of myself and the committee of Scarborough Jazz we would like to thank Jazz North For the generous bursary which will help us to promote our New Jazz Generation programme – giving young aspiring players a proper jazz stage to strut their stuff on.
Apart from regular support slots we have two very special nights coming up in July:
6th. July – New Jazz Generation – featuring all of our support bands on a night which is all their own
13th. July – The York Music Forum Youth Jazz Ensemble
One of our rising stars, saxophonist Murray Robinson, was called upon at the last minute to dep with an established 5 piece jazz outfit this very week. This was all down to his recent fine performances with young support bands. It’s great to feel we are opening doors at a time when so many seem to be shutting.
Lucy Woolley, Lancaster Jazz Festival
Lancaster Jazz Festival will use this financial support from Jazz North to continue our commitment to diversity, equality and accessibility throughout our programmes by joining Black Lives in Music. Working more closely with BLIM will be pivotal in informing our work as we continue to develop our Board, team and wider festival activity.
Lubi Jovanovic, Jazzland Sessions @ The Brudenell, Leeds
Lubi Jovanovic (aka DJ Lubi) is one of the longest serving and best known jazz promoters in Leeds. In 2022, he celebrates his 40th anniversary of working in the music business and he’s been promoting jazz in the city since 1985. From his legendary DIG Family days (1985-2002) to his work in the last decade, he’s been instrumental in putting Leeds on the UK jazz map via strongly supporting and championing our homegrown artists as well as bringing many top national/international artists to the city for the first time (Jimmy Smith, Mark Murphy, Joyce, Eddie Palmieri, Tania Maria, Brian Auger, Terry Callier, Seu Jorge, Ezra Collective, Keyon Harrold, Kokoroko, Yussef Kamal Trio to name a few).
The Jazz North Open Bursary Award 2022 funding will go towards celebrating the first anniversary of my Jazzland Sessions shows at Brudenell Social Club Leeds in May 2022 and in particular, the three shows in that period featuring some of the city’s top women jazz musicians. The award will go towards promo/marketing costs and some gig costs.
Lee Etherington, TUSK, Newcastle upon Tyne
Tusk Music Projects is based in Newcastle and perhaps best known for its annual TUSK Festival, which has presented artists from over 30 countries since 2011, most appearing in the region for the first time. We are always striving to make our events and work as accessible as possible and are concerned that, especially in the current economic/social climate, that lack of disposable income can also be a barrier. With that in mind we have launched a £PayWhatYouCan policy so no one need be excluded because of ticket price and this Jazz North Award will help us support and develop that approach.
Debra Milne, The Globe, Newcastle upon Tyne
The Jazz Coop is presenting a programme of music as part of The Globe Summer Festival, July 29th-31st 2022. This funding will support the programming of high quality female musicians and keep ticket prices affordable for lower income households during a time of increasing financial hardship. The Globe Summer Festival aims to celebrate a wide range of music and culture, which should be reflected not only in the music that is played, but in the performers who take part and in the audience that comes to listen.
Simon Cunliffe-Lister, Burton Agnes Jazz & Blues Festival
Burton Agnes Jazz and Blues Festival will use this funding to support the programming of diverse artists as part of the annual festival on the weekend of 8th to 10th July 2022. As the festival is located in Bridlington, an area with notably low racial diversity, this support would fund the additional costs, associated with (not exclusively) travel, and the need for overnight accommodation involved with diverse acts from further afield performing.
Main picture: Mono Neon playing at Future Yard, Birkenhead © Andy Von Pip
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