Nothing like kicking your own exceptional jazz artists in the a**! Gentrification once again paves over history and culture.
Transforming an event that’s unable to continue into a year-round $225K fund is a smart pivot to address the post-Covid costs/challenges affecting the concert industry everywhere. Supporting artists, businesses and nonprofits directly this way will hopefully strengthen the neighborhood and the artist community.
If they keep killing the talent pipelines like this, pretty soon there won’t be enough “nationally prominent jazz acts” to go around.
Will miss it! But this is beautiful! Great way to support new artists! Times are hard! We (artists) need help to be successful at what we do! Or want to do! We need more action in this world! Less war, more art!
Wow, that is sad. We will see what they do with this money. It could be cool to have smaller free shows throughout the summer, but it will be hard to top Five Points Jazz Fest, which was a fantastic tradition. If it cost more to put on, they could have charged five or ten bucks a head, and people would have happily paid.
Good thing they’re gentrifying all the festivals away. Good thing we’re making Denver into a theme park for out-of-staters who don’t give a shit about our state’s culture.
Why does it seem like the community that made Denver what it is, is getting squeezed out of Denver ?
After over two decades, the Five Points Jazz Festival is over ; the city will replace this annual event in the heart of Denver’s historic Black neighborhood with a grants program.The Five Points Jazz Activation Fund will put “a year-round emphasis on arts and culture represented by jazz in Five Points,” according to Denver Arts & Venues Executive Director Gretchen Hollrah, who adds that it’s “a way to invest more significantly in jazz artists and enliven the neighborhood in a more consistent manner.”But in their comments on the Westword Facebook page post of our story, readers worry that this move will not only hurt local musicians, but the city’s cultural scene in general. Says Carolyn:Responds Jim:Counters Jack:Notes Beatriz:Adds Matthew:Offers Enrique:Concludes Alex:Did you ever go to the Five Points Jazz Festival? What do you think of the city’s plan to replace it? Post a comment or share your thoughts at [email protected]