Ian Bowden, director of the Rye International Jazz & Blues Festival has recently issued the following statement, given the current uncertain climate.
“Our response to the coronavirus crisis:
“The health and wellbeing of our audiences, artists, professional suppliers, staff and volunteers are priority. We have made the hard but necessary decision to postpone our May concert presentations at the De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill and St Mary’s Church, Rye.
“We are all facing great uncertainty at this unprecedented time, and it is with sadness that we are unable to proceed with these concerts. We are working with the venues, artists and their management teams to reschedule these events.
“We are aiming to reschedule for autumn/winter 2020. If the rescheduled dates are no longer suitable for our customers then we will of course refund or transfer tickets to future events.
“We ask for support and patience as we navigate through these unprecedented times. As a not for profit organisation we hope our supporters and audiences will work with us to keep the music playing.
“Our August festival planning continues and we have further exciting announcements on the horizon.
“If you have tickets for our May concerts we will contact you with more detail about the rescheduling in the near future. In the meantime, we wish all of our customers the very best at this uncertain time; when we are having to avoid the gatherings that bring us together and that create so much joy for us all.
“We echo the words of this statement from our friends at Cheltenham Jazz Festival. “When this crisis subsides, we are going to need culture more than ever to lift the spirits, foster community and galvanise creativity. We ask supporters to help us safeguard the future of the festival so we can continue to play our part locally, nationally and internationally”.
“Let us all keep the music playing. Keep listening to great music, follow your favourite artists on social media, check out their videos on YouTube, share music with others, listen to the radio and above all – keep connected.”
Image Credits: Rye Jazz Festival .