Artistic director ‘cautiously optimistic’ some form of Jazz Festival able to run this summer

Like many large-scale events in 2020, Saskatoon’s Jazz Festival was cancelled.

With worries of the emerging coronavirus, the show was cancelled on April 17. Fast forward one year, with a years worth of knowledge gained from the pandemic — could Jazz Fest go in 2021?

Artistic Director of the program, Kevin Tobin joined Brent Loucks Wednesday morning to discuss just that.

“I think you’re seeing events like Country Thunder, the Ottawa Blues Festival, recently announced their cancellation … Right now, we’re currently assessing our ability to be able to present the event in July and looking at options, really all options on the table. We’re cautiously optimistic,” he explained.

Tobin said organizers have been in touch with the province’s business response team to run its plans by them, along with getting updates on the vaccine roll-out and transmission rates.

He said they are trying to get the show to the fans this year, adding that he believes it’s a need in the community — as long as it can be done safely.

“I think folks have really shown they appreciate having culture in their lives,” Tobin said. “They really miss it, and they’re supporting it no matter what the platform is.”

When it comes to what a show would look like, Tobin said it would be delivered in both live and pre-recorded performances.

“It’s definitely a hybrid model. We need enough flexibility to be able to shift back and forth, depending on the situation on the ground … Things change so rapidly with COVID and the vaccine roll-out,” he said.

“Virtual performances, you can buy … So that’s a possibility,” he adds. “It’s going to be heavily Canadian artists, heavily Saskatchewan artists — they need to work.”

The acts will not include large-scale performers, according to Tobin. Those are planned out usually one, or one and a half years ahead of time. Tobin said they are holding off on that this year, but their goal remains clear: present the festival.

“Get back to live music and having audiences in front of artists. But for the time being, this is at least a reasonable alternative,” he said.

“We’ve got some flexibility still. To hold on without making any formal announcements on a lineup.”

The SaskTel Jazz Fest is an annual event spanning ten days in the Saskatoon summer. It first took place in 1987.

A July 2020 release had the 2021 festival scheduled for July 9 to 18.