Erie Blues & Jazz Festival returning in 2024 after 2023 cancellation, organizers say

The Erie Blues & Jazz Festival has a date and a location for 2024 and the event's longtime organizer believes it's going to happen even though he's stepping back from running the fest that was canceled in 2023.

The festival recently added new members to its board and has hired a producer and artistic director. The event's website had an illustration in mid-December with four musicians, the festival's name, the dates of Aug. 3 and 4, 2024, and the location of Frontier Park.

"I have every belief they are going to move ahead and make the festival happen," John Vanco, the event's former artistic director, said.

Matt Walker, the new producer and artistic director, said there "absolutely" will be an Erie Blues & Jazz Festival in 2024. He said it will have a similar standard of musical excellence as seen in past festivals and it will still be a family friendly event that appeals to a diverse crowd. As of now, it will also remain free to enjoy, Walker said.

"We’ve gotten off to a strong start this year and many pieces are coming together early," he said via a Dec. 21 email.

In posts this past July on the festival's website and Facebook page, Vanco wrote that despite the best efforts of the event's volunteer board, the fest wouldn't be taking place over three days in early August 2023 in Frontier Park. Expenses close to $100,000 and competitiveness for local funding were among the reasons cited by Vanco, who was also the board's treasurer.

"With just five weeks left to plan and substantial gaps remaining in funding, volunteers and talent, we are not confident that we can produce the high-quality, safe and enjoyable event that you have come to expect," Vanco wrote in the summer posts.

From July: Erie's Blues & Jazz Festival canceled for 2023; organizers start planning for 2024

Funding the festival

Walker said that no tax dollars go toward presenting this festival. Corporate and local business sponsorships are critical, as are the grassroots donations that come from individuals who love live music and want to give back, he said. He added that contributions can be made through eriebluesandjazz.org.

"We have significant fixed costs of everything from duct tape to insurance to tents. Those are in the tens of thousands (of dollars)," Walker said. "Flexible costs might include artists fees and general appeal of the event. So, it is difficult to gauge an exact number, but it is in the six-figure range."

Vanco had suggested in the summer Facebook post that planning for the future might include finding an organizational partner to co-host the festival and establishing an endowment that can support a new festival structure more sustainably.

Walker said the organizers are not actively looking for a partner right now, although that's open for dialogue. Members of the team are exploring options for an endowment, he said.

Vanco said he had every hope that the values embodied in the event in the past would continue. The free festival aims to showcase outstanding musicians whose work arises from blues, jazz and the African diaspora, and to bring the community together in Frontier Park.

"Hopefully it won't look that different to people," he said.

Walker said the musical excellence of the festival will be maintained.

"For three decades, we have consistently gathered top notch local and regional talent and presented them on stage with world class artists. Musically, we set the bar very high. This will continue. We will include performances that are geared toward veterans and kids with disabilities," he said.

He also said there will be non-musical additions including dancers, poets and visual artists.

"Our artistic committee is always open to new ideas and discovering new local talent, so it is an ongoing creation. A festival is never completed even when it is happening. That’s what brings the arts alive and exciting," Walker said.

Vanco had posted in July that the decision to cancel the 2023 fest gave organizers the best chance of bringing it back in the future and told the Erie Times-News then that apparently what was needed was a hiatus.

"If people really want the festival to continue, somebody will step up," he said in July.

Under new direction

Walker said what happened with the 2023 event "was a sobering reminder that a great festival really does take many people who can give of their time, treasure or talents. When we step up and work together, excellence happens."

Festival organizers put out the word that they were looking to get new people involved in planning and running the event. Vanco said in December that an enthusiastic young group had responded.

"I'm happy that it looks like they're going to run with it," he said.

Vanco said he will be stepping back from the fest but will still be available to offer advice as an emeritus member of the board.

Walker said the fest's 2024 board of directors includes President Danny Jones and members Marcus Atkinson, Brian Atterbury, Tim Bruno, Rich Chapman, Rob Hoff, Matt Lebowitz, Anne Rahner, Amy Shallenberger, Amanda Sissem, Tanya Teglo, Kennedy Thompson, Mo Troop and Nick Warren.

Walker also said he joined the festival team in January 2023 and has learned a lot from Vanco.

The new director said he has been in and out of the Erie music scene since the early 1990s, which is when the Blues & Jazz Festival began. He said he played with the band Plato’s Cave and was a founding member of One World Tribe.

"Playing music eventually led me into promoting and event planning," Walker said.

He produced the Grape Jam musical festival in the late 1990s in North East, Wattsburg and Glenwood, New York, with national acts including Tragically Hip, Mickey Hart from Grateful Dead, Derek Trucks, Buckwheat Zydeco and Fishbone, and brought a few acts into Erie's Warner Theatre. As the owner of a small publishing business, Walker said, he's produced several books about the Erie area.

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The Erie Blues & Jazz Festival has been a lot of work and a lot of stress over the decades but what kept Vanco going was "the constant expressions of gratitude" from people, he said.

"It's been a great experience," he said.

Dana Massing can be reached at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie Blues & Jazz Festival coming back to Frontier Park in 2024