Glasgow International Jazz Festival Limited is an independent, not-for-profit organisation with charitable status, a voluntary Board and a production team second to none in the UK.  We own the Festival.  We go back to Glasgow’s resurgence as European City of Culture. In 1987, the City boasted two festivals, us and Mayfest; we’re still here – and kicking.

We feature top-class artists.  Anyone who’s anyone in jazz has played here – Miles Davis, Ray Charles, Al Green, Dionne Warwick, Tony Bennett, Dizzy Gillespie, Buddy Guy, McCoy Tyner, George Shearing, John McLaughlin, Chick Corea, George Benson, Pat Metheny and John Scofield to name just a few.  We feature the Best of British; Bobby Wellins, Stan Tracey, Courtney Pine and Tommy Smith have graced our stage recently.  We showcase the best of established and emerging Scottish jazz – and rarely have we seen such a bubbling-up of Scottish jazz talent as now!  But we’re not complacent…..

We’re building the Festival into the 21st century as one of Scotland’s distinctive events focused on the City, Scotland, the music and talent:

• stepping up our role as a showcase for local and Scottish talent;
• creating more opportunities for young people and promoting innovation;
• going year-round – with our autumnal schools competition and presence at Glasgow’s Winterfest (in 2009 we won the General Meeting of the European Jazz Network, bringing a slug of cultural business to the City);
• incorporating associated art-forms (e.g. jazz photography);
• developing our community outreach and educational activities;
• making our contribution to the success of the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Our audiences enjoy the Festival.  Over 30,000 people attend our event annually.  We’re an international festival based in Glasgow so we naturally draw heavily from the West of Scotland, but we are increasingly pulling in people from outwith Scotland.  When we ask what our audience feels, we get the following responses:

• 92% say the experience was “very enjoyable”;
• 95% – across all age groups – say they are “likely to come back”….. and they do!

• “Look out, too, for evidence that the Scottish jazz scene is thriving in the Homegrown showcases at the Old Fruitmarket.” [The Herald]
• “Celebrating…..with a big, brassy blast, Glasgow’s summer jazz spree combines international guests …with the best our own scene offers.” [The Scotsman]
• “The festival has long sought to attract the biggest names in jazz whilst encouraging the thriving Scottish scene, and this year is no different.” [The Independent]
• “We recommend the Glasgow Jazz Festival to all comrades. In fact, we insist.” [Pravda]
• “Glasgow Jazz Festival has gained a reputation as one of Europe’s finest musical events.” [Scotland on Sunday]
• “The Festival has become an institution in the cultural life of Glasgow and garnered a well-deserved reputation as a centre of excellence.” [The Extra]
• “Promoter of some of the finest music around.” [Evening Times]

Our partners value our relationships.  We’ve had stalwart support from key promotional and media bodies including Glasgow City Council, Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, Creative Scotland, Scottish Enterprise and the BBC; all continue to support the Festival enthusiastically.  We have music industry backing.  The BBC records Festival shows (and our launch, itself a prestigious occasion hosted in the BBC’s Pacific Quay complex) for transmission on Radio Scotland’s “Jazz House” and Radio 3’s “Jazz Line Up.”  We have support from the Performing Rights Society and work closely with the Musicians Union.

What we offer: we’re not looking for hand-outs; we’re looking for win-win partnerships. We know you will be looking for value from the relationship, like:

Corporate Benefits:

• branding & marketing an event/theme alongside first-class entertainment.
• building profile through name & logo placement in publicity/marketing activity.
• corporate hospitality – eating/drinking in a great environment, meeting the artist.
• partnership with one of Glasgow’s best cultural events and a demonstration of commitment to Glasgow and Scotland.

Publicity & Advertising Benefits:

• title/logo placement at key venues.
• logo placement on all press advertising.
• title/logo placement on our website with hyperlinks to web destinations of choice.
• inclusion in our Festival flyer, a 50,000 print-run distributed to 600 outlets nationally.
• logo & acknowledgement on all printed material, including Festival posters.
• inclusion in press releases to 130+ media contacts – follow-up work gains features, photo opportunities, inclusion in entertainment listings, previews, etc.
• Festival mailing list of over 10,000 postal & email addresses, regularly updated for effective direct mail shots.
• bar & venue staff T-shirt branding & branding opportunities in all official Festival hotels.

Staff Benefits:

• ticket deals tailored to your staff’s interests.
• in-house entertainment alongside & prior to the Festival.
• special “night-outs” & priority booking.
• staff engagement in Festival activities (one sponsor wanted a choir – we trained them & gave them a gig!).

Corporate Social Responsibility:

We can integrate your priorities for CSR & community development into the Festival.

What we’d like: we need sponsorship but we’d like to build sustainable relationships that benefit both of us. We’d like partners with:

• an interest in what we do. We need to commit to your interests – corporate, CSR-related or enhancing the well-being of your staff. Equally, we want partners who share in at least some aspect of our mission.
• active engagement in developing a package that delivers value for you. Our sponsors bring a great deal of imagination and creativity to our partnerships.
• engagement over time – while some join and move on, we have a roster of long-standing “friends”. No sponsor stays with us forever but we hope that we can create opportunities to work together over a number of years.

We take our relationships very seriously. Once we’ve agreed a sponsorship package, we’ll manage the relationship – ensuring that we deliver on promises and seeking to maximise the benefit to you as long as you choose to support us.

Our Venues:

You’ll want to know how it looks when it happens. We use a range of iconic venues depending on artist, style, pulling-power etc.  The Festival needs change from year to year, but regular homes include:

The City Halls complex, notably the unique Old Fruitmarket, one of Europe’s most distinctive performance spaces (2000 capacity) and the smaller, cafe-style Recital Room (100 capacity).

• The Tron Theatre
• The Arches
• The Ferry
• The Armadillo
• King Tut’s
• Stereo
• Royal Concert Hall

We have also been found at Platform in Easterhouse and community venues and schools across the City………..not to mention Pollok House, Kelvingrove Museum, the People’s Palace and so forth.  The quality of the performance space is all part of the festival experience.

The Festival happens late June/early July.  We work round-the-year to promote jazz but our main sponsorship opportunities are around the Festival.  They include:

Single Concert Sponsor
The spine of the Festival is a series of concerts from the very best of the broad jazz-soul-funk-blues church.  Recently, we have offered Dionne Warwick, Roy Hargrove, David Murray, Tommy Smith, the James Taylor Quartet, Stan Tracey, Bobby Wellins, Chris Botti, Pat Metheny with Brad Mehldau, Kenny Garrett, Roy Ayers among others.  The programme comes together in early Spring.

We can dress/brand programme, advertising and venue; arrange a night out for staff; connect to any of your charitable or community interests that you would like to incorporate. As you can see, the artists may be Scottish, British or international; the constants are quality and standing.

Scottish Jazz Showcase
“Glasgow Jazz Festival’s Homegrown concerts have become annual statements of the Scottish jazz scene’s health” [Rob Adams, The Herald].  In 2005, we committed to a platform for up-coming Scottish talent.  It’s going like a bomb; we doubled the playing time in 2006 and it now takes place before an international audience of agents, promoters, label-owners and other talent-spotters (jazz programmes across the UK are enthusing over acts who began here).  It’s a nice package; if you would like to be associated with the process of conjuring new Scottish talent into business………

Commonwealth Games Concert
One of our objectives is the promotion of the City and we intend to support Glasgow’s hosting of the 2014 Commonwealth Games.  Through 2014 and beyond, we’ll be promoting a “Commonwealth Games Concert”, an act from a Commonwealth country, and engaging our athletes in the gig.  Meet Sir Chris Hoy!

Title Sponsor
In exceptional circumstances, you can have the title; we become “The [Your Company] Glasgow Jazz Festival”.  This would suit companies with a lot of money to spend, who are willing to commit for several years; it may suit companies with a short name so that the title doesn’t become too much of a mouthful.

More than that, you will be really interested in the Festival and its objectives; you’ll want to be deeply and actively engaged with us in its development.  And you will be happy to see other sponsors joining with us on other of the opportunities outlined…….and if, after all that, you are still interested…..then let’s talk turkey!

Schools Competition
You may be interested in/engaged with local schools or youth/community groups.  We believe passionately that our young people are packed with talent and we are working to nurture that talent.  That’s why we developed our schools jazz band competition.  With a prestigious panel of judges, this has its own Old Fruit Market occasion in the Autumn.

Jazz Summer School
Another string to our educational bow, we work with Glasgow Cultural Enterprises on our Jazz Summer School in parallel with the Festival itself.  With tutors from the top drawer of Scottish jazz, the School is in a class of its own.

Festival Fringe Sponsor
If the Old Fruitmarket concerts set the style for the Festival, the true Glasgow spirit dances out through the Fringe; 25 – 30 cafes, bars and hotels jump to the sound of jazz in all its diversity.  Focussed on the Merchant City and stretching along the Clyde and into the West End, the Fringe ensures that, wherever people gather for a drink or a bite – there’s Festival music!

Corporate Hospitality
The Festival offers a great night out. We have a very flexible approach to hospitality packages; it depends what you’d like.  It may be for your clients or for your staff; you may be a small organisation or a large corporation.  With our restaurant partners, we can fix a package to suit you.

These are just a selection of what’s on offer; we can offer more as long as there is scope for each of us to gain something!

If you would like more information or to have a chat, please contact us on glasgow@jazzfest.co.uk