Jazz Plus initiates capital campaign for 2012 festival

Sonoma Jazz Plus has emerged from its seventh season with an unsustainable operating deficit and has launched an immediate capital campaign to ensure that the 2012 concert returns to Sonoma.

Sonoma Jazz Plus will host an open forum to solicit feedback from the community on all aspects of the festival on Tuesday, June 21 at 6 p.m. at
Ramekin’s. If the campaign is unsuccessful, the 2012 festival will be cancelled.

However, if sufficient funds are raised by mid-August, the goal will be to finalize and announce the 2012 festival program by November 15, 2011, with ticket sales commencing prior to the holiday season.

Over the years, Sonoma Jazz Plus has raised more than $450,000 for music education programs in the Sonoma Valley Unified School District, along with another $150,000 for youth sports.

Darius Anderson, a member of the Jazz Aspen Snowmass board of directors and the Sonoma Festival chairman said that the festival’s contribution to youth music and sports can be preserved and extended with community support. “Sonoma Jazz+ is a community asset that serves Sonoma on multiple levels, and we want to insure that what has already been built can have the chance to thrive into the future. It’s also important to note the festival has more than $60,000 reserved to maintain Sonoma Jazz Plus in-school programs through the 2011-2012 year calendar,” said Anderson. “Jazz Aspen and the concert booking and promotion service AEGLive will work diligently to insure we have the right line-up of talent appropriate for the Sonoma market, with the advantage of starting on the programming process this summer. But the effort for 2012 cannot begin until we have reached this fundraising goal. If the goal isn’t reached, unfortunately, the festival is finished.”

“We’d like to take this opportunity first to thank the City of Sonoma for its
invaluable support in 2011,” said Jim Horowitz, Sonoma Jazz Plus president and CEO. “We also want to thank the many individuals who purchased tickets to concerts, became patrons or sponsors of the festival, volunteered, or otherwise participated in a stellar weekend of world class music, food and wine,” Horowitz said. “Still, we need a wider net of local patrons and regional sponsors to keep the music playing at the festival, and especially year-round in our local school music education programs. We’re looking for a few key community leaders to join us, as well as new multi-year sponsorship commitments to match the founding vision of Jim and Stephanie Anderson Pugash, and especially the multi-year support of our founding and now presenting sponsor, Union Bank, who are committed through
2013.”

Sonoma Jazz Plus is a not-for-profit, 501(C) (3) organization that generates vital economic activity and ongoing support for music education programs in the Sonoma Valley. This campaign will involve all segments of the community including businesses and individuals.