The inaugural Coffs Coast Jazz Festival is set to take place this November and will be an immersive three-day celebration of jazz, music education, community and collaboration.
Presented by the Coffs Harbour Regional Conservatorium and funded through the Coffs Harbour City Council Community Arts and Cultural Development Grants, the exciting new festival will include three live concerts and two educational workshops that will celebrate and promote jazz music and culture on the Coffs Coast.
The festival strongly aligns with the vision of the Coffs Con, ‘to enrich the cultural life of Coffs Harbour through musical performances and education’, through acclaimed jazz musicians providing engaging educational workshops followed by inspirational live performances that targets both local residents and visitors.
While Coffs Harbour has one-off jazz concerts on an infrequent basis, this unique offering of collating three live performances over a single weekend and combining these with two interactive workshops, will significantly grow the jazz culture and profile of the Coffs Coast. The success of these larger festivals is evidenced by the popular Coffs Harbour Festival of Chamber Music recently hosted by the Conservatorium in April 2022. The Coffs Coast Jazz Festival envisages a similar, yet more interactive format that will promote and encourage jazz culture and development in the area. The concept of the Coffs Coast Jazz Festival holds much potential to become an annual event on the local calendar with strong initial community support from local jazz artists, students and the broader Associations of NSW Regional Conservatoriums.
The Con’s Executive Director, Patrick Brearley is thrilled about this opportunity, saying “This exciting new program offered by the Coffs Con is yet another page in the ever-growing arts and culture book for the Coffs Coast. Bringing these exceptional musicians to the Con for the three-day festival will further create a thriving community of music lovers and continues to showcase what is possible on the Coffs Coast. To be able to present a second festival in one year at the Con just goes to show how the Coffs Harbour Regional Conservatorium is bringing the best in music education and performances to the region and is continuing to provide outstanding opportunities for audiences, students, and musicians alike.”
