“This could be the last edition of Nišville Jazz Festival ever which, this year, will take place from 5th to 14th August with 850 musicians performing on 15 stages,” says the festival director Ivan Blagojević.
The Theatre Jazz Festival will also be held from 3 to 14 August, with the performance of the well-known New York troupe ‘La Mama’ and there will also be a great children’s programme.
This year’s festival’s slogan ‘One More Time’ reflects the possibility that there won’t be another Nišville next year due to the festival lacking money. “We have been in negotiations with four countries, including two European ones, to move the Jazz Festival to one of them due to insufficient financial support here”, Blagojević said.
“Our budget has dropped by a third while our expenses have gone up by at least 30%. The festival is simply no longer economically viable to survive in this form, with so many artists and events. We cannot even pay out the minimum wage to our employees, let alone finance 850 contractors, and play for the accommodation for artists from Skopje, Sofia and Belgrade. Compared to last year, this is an increase of 30-50 per cent in the price of flights and hotel accommodation. Artist fees have gone up the least. It seems that art is the cheapest of them all,’ Blagojević said at the press conference.
Nevertheless, this year’s festival has an interesting programme with several orchestras and big bands from South Korea, Poland, Argentina, Brazil, Thailand and other countries performing.
“One of the biggest performances will take place on the first festival day – Al McKay, 19 people on stage and three vocalists, followed by Kurt Rosenwinkel, Julian Marley, and Natacha Atlas, who will bring Arab sounds to Niš,” says Blagojević and adds: “This year, the festival will promote multiculturalism and jazz. Unlike last year, there will be no mandatory tests and vaccination, unless something changes before the festival starts.”
Here is the Festival programme http://nisville.com/en/nisville-stages-2/ .
(Nova, 28.07.2022)
https://nova.rs/kultura/jos-ovaj-put-nisvil-odlazi-iz-srbije/
Photo credits: Radule Perisic/ATAImages