Since he was elected mayor, Rahm Emanuel has announced plans to lay off 625 city employees unless their unions agree to work-rule changes, and his handpicked school board has scrapped a scheduled 4 percent pay raise for Chicago teachers.
Considering that Emanuel is trying to close a $635.7 million budget gap, it seems entirely possible that he'll also be re-conceiving how the city stages – and pays for – its summer music festivals.
He can start by reinventing the oldest and creakiest of the events, the Chicago Jazz Festival, which on Sunday completed its 33d annual edition. Since its inception, the event has been dependent on city coffers – and the kindness of strangers – to pay the bills.
But this anachronistic fest – which is dwarfed by state-of-the-art soirees in San Francisco and Montreal – long has needed an overhaul. Though well programmed, within a tiresome format, by the Jazz Institute of Chicago, the fest remains poorly produced (as the weekend's acoustical and technical fiascos showed) and precariously funded (by a combination of shrinking city dollars and hand-to-mouth charitable contributions).
Here are some ways to drag the formulaic Chicago Jazz Festival into the 21st century:
Create a Chicago Jazz Festival Foundation. By weaning the festival from the politics and purse-strings of City Hall, the event could develop into the free-standing institution it deserves to be. Start-up funds could come from the Chicago Jazz Partnership, a consortium of local corporations and foundations that already contribute significantly to the festival.
Appoint an executive director. Every worthy arts organization has an administrative chief, and the Chicago Jazz Festival Foundation would need an experienced arts executive to guide and develop the event. A Chicago Jazz Festival CEO would champion the fest to funders and promote it across the city and around the world, 12 months a year.
Embrace the World Music Festival model. Unlike the Chicago Jazz Festival, which presents most events in Grant Park and Millennium Park, Chicago's World Music Festival partners with local clubs, concert halls and other neighborhood spots, bringing the music to where people live – via free and affordable concerts. The Chicago Jazz Festival similarly should reach out into Chicago: Close the downtown park concerts (if they continue) no later than 8:30 p.m. and lure audiences to performances across the city. This way, the festival would feed the local nightlife economy rather than compete with it.
Welcome new ideas. By collaborating with cultural institutions across the city – a la the World Music Festival – the Jazz Fest would tap the creative input of uncounted clubs, performance spaces and arts organizations. Just imagine the inventive programming contributions that could come from the South Shore Cultural Center and the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Old Town School of Folk Music and Jazz Unites, Inc. All these institutions, and others, ought to be welcomed as part of a citywide Chicago Jazz Festival.
Soft-pedal the Petrillo. Artistically speaking, performances at the Petrillo Music Shell in Grant Park consistently have been the weakest aspect of the festival – unless you enjoy bad acoustics, audience conversation and smoke in your face. The superior Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park serves jazz far better and should upstage the Petrillo.
Howard Reich
To read more from Howard Reich on jazz, go to chicagotribune.com/reich
