Cayman Jazz Fest might happen.
Then again, it might not.
West Bay MLA Cline Glidden Jr, the ministerial councillor with responsibility for tourism, said a definitive decision has not been made regarding the future of the event.
“Government is still keen to work with the private sector to agree a formula that will be mutually beneficial for the partners involved, as well as the destination,” he said.
Governor Duncan Taylor spoke about the possibility in his Throne Speech in Legislative Assembly on 23 May. “The [tourism] ministry plans to initiate more private-public sector partnerships for prestigious events such as the Cayman Jazz Fest, in order to reduce government’s financial contributions,” he said.
Money talks
Executive director of the Cayman Islands Tourism Association, Trina Christian, said that getting the private sector involved would be a good idea, but the key was getting the numbers to make sense. “The challenge with Jazz Fest and its business model is that typically it costs a significant amount,” she said. “Maybe in the long term [it could turn a profit] but the return on investment in the short term is difficult to measure because the benefit is really international exposure for the destination, as opposed to arrivals over that weekend,” she said.
One illustration of the difficulty in balancing the books for an event was at a well-attended but loss-making concert of Jamaican dance-hall musician Mavado at Lions Centre on Friday, 27 May, noted Jean-Eric Smith of the Cayman Music and Entertainment Association.
“The situation with the recent failure of the Mavado show at Lions Centre illustrates the challenges we face and trouble we are in as an entertainment destination,” he said.
“When you have radio stations with an agenda, sponsors who misrepresent figures to their distributors and venues who practice monopolies, then you are faced with failure as it relates to live shows. The Jazz Fest is no different and if a success cannot be made of a show featuring a relevant headliner, then the prospects are daunting.”
Metamorphosis
The last Jazz Fest to take place in Cayman was held in December 2009 at Camana Bay and included a hot headliner in Alicia Keys. The event cost $1.4 million. Subsequently, due to the financial downturn, some $4 million was culled from the Department of Tourism’s budget for 2010 and 12 staff were laid off. The government had attempted to raise cash for a festival in 2010, but in August Mr. Glidden noted that only a third of the required funds had been committed. Following talks with stakeholders, a metamorphosis of the idea was under consideration.
“The Government has consulted extensively with the private sector… and we are unanimously agreed that under the current economic conditions it was best to proceed without a Jazz Fest 2010 and instead focus on reviewing the Jazz Fest event concept, and agreeing with private sector how to best leverage a musical event to meet the needs of the tourism industry in 2011 and beyond,” he said
New beginnings
In the interim the government had focused its support on other private sector music events.
“Until a firm decision is made on the future of the Jazz Fest, we as a government are pleased that private sector entities have stepped up to the plate and hosted a variety of musical events, which while not on the scale of the Jazz Fest, have helped to drive incremental visitation,” noted Mr. Glidden.
Cayman has had a relatively busy 2011 to date with live events including Cayman Islands Winter Music Fest, Jazz on the Green, Cayman Arts 2011, Rotary’s Celebration of Music, Batabano and concerts by The Wailers, Crazy and Mavado.
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