Organizers of the high school Maine State Instrumental Jazz Festival have partnered with Northern Maine Media Inc. (NMM), the home of WHOU 100.1 FM, to video stream the entire two day festival to increase community engagement in music programs. The annual festival, which will be held in Houlton for the next two years, draws roughly 80 high school jazz ensembles from around 35 schools throughout the state and will be broadcast live online at http://www.whoufm.com on March 15 and 16, 2013.
Organizers of the high school Maine State Instrumental Jazz Festival have partnered with Northern Maine Media Inc. (NMM), the home of WHOU 100.1 FM, to video stream the entire two day festival to increase community engagement in music programs. The annual festival, which will be held in Houlton for the next two years, draws roughly 80 high school jazz ensembles from around 35 schools throughout the state and will be broadcast live online athttp://www.whoufm.com on March 15 and 16, 2013.
“Many people aren't aware of the magnitude of how many students are impacted by music programs in the State of Maine,” stated Joe Fagnant, instrumental Director of Houlton High School and host coordinator for this year's jazz festival. “These specialty group ensembles highlight some of the best young musicians in the State. Our desire to stream the entire two day event will not only highlight those excellent students and programs, but also increase community engagement in music programs around Maine.”
“We've seen it in all events we've streamed over the past two years,” stated Fred Grant, President of NMM. “Interest in these music programs will increase by making them accessible online and we're excited to showcase, simultaneously, all three performance venues and the Saturday night finals at this year's jazz festival .”
NMM had the exclusive contract to video stream the 2013 Eastern Maine Basketball Quarterfinals which reached over 80 thousand viewers in all 50 states and 113 countries. In addition, NMM has streamed two complete seasons of high school basketball in Northern Maine and the entire 2012 summer season of McGill's Community Band, one of Maine's largest and oldest community bands.
“Events like the State Instrumental Jazz Festival are perfect for online streaming,” stated Grant. “Anytime you have large events with broad appeal like high school performance competitions, there will always be people who want to see the event, but just can't make the journey to the performance venue. Video streaming opens the event up to a much larger audience than would typically be possible.”
The Maine State Instrumental Jazz Festival is organized by the Maine Music Educators Association (MMEA) and is conducted annually in March. MMEA is a non-profit organization which exists for the welfare of music educators, to advance music education, and to improve instructional opportunities for all.
Northern Maine Media purchased WHOU in 2012 and in addition to radio and online streaming video; the company assists businesses and organizations with web development, hosting, social media and marketing.
Houlton, Maine (PRWEB) March 04, 2013
