Festival with 40 percent more concerts than planned
Culture
The “Jazz the City” festival on the weekend in Salzburg’s old town has grown by a good 40 percent at short notice: 70 concerts were originally planned. Thanks to spontaneous collaborations and additional appointments, there were finally more than 100.
Artists came together spontaneously for concerts – in line with the organizers, who today primarily wanted to create space for art. The puppet theater turned out to be one of the great discoveries of this year’s “Jazz and the City” festival. The organizers definitely want to keep this location. And many other things were new this year too – for example a large open-air stage on Residenzplatz.
“Blind Dates” for artists
There were also numerous chance encounters with artists, many of which led to spontaneous concerts and performances. That was exactly what artistic director Tina Heine wanted: “On the second or third day, I couldn’t get off the phone because it rang every five minutes. They said ‘Can we have the rehearsal room?’ or ‘Do you have a place where we could maybe perform tonight, I found someone there.’ There were a few world premieres for artists who came together for the first time on the ‘Blind Dates’. “
In addition, “three or four projects really came about here – through precisely such situations,” added Heine. “And now they’re recording CDs. It was great. “
460,000 euros budget
After the cancellation last year, there was a strong security concept including registration and the 3-G rule. As in every year, entry was free for visitors. The budget of the festival this year was 460,000 euros from grants and sponsorship money.
“Jazz and the City” grew spontaneously
“Day guest comes here” in the old town
The organizer was the Altstadtverband – and they were satisfied: “The added value is definitely there,” said Altstadtverband managing director Sandra Woglar-Meyer. “Of course we still have Corona and no international guests. But we know that the ‘Jazz and the City’ festival actually brings overnight guests to Salzburg – and quite a few. And it is above all the day guest who comes here, the local residents. It’s also incredibly important for the city. “
Exact visitor numbers have not yet been evaluated. According to initial estimates, there were around 20,000 music fans.