Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Art - programme area no. 17

Bohemia JazzFest

www.bohemiajazzfest.cz

Hakon Kornstad Ensemble “Tenor Battle”

The Sunna Gunnlaugs Trio

The application for grant is submitted by the Bohemia JazzFest, o.p.s., a public-benefit corporation. This corporation is registered within the public benefit corporation registry as of 10th October 2005. The Bohemia JazzFest public benefit corporation was funded for the purposes of organizing the Bohemia JazzFest music festival and other cultural events. The jazz festival is held annually. Therefore, it can be stated with a high degree of certainty that the applicant possesses relevant experience in preparation and organizing of similar music-related projects. In 2015 this well-known international jazz festival will take place for the 10th time. Since the festival will be organized in cooperation with partners from Iceland and Norway, it will present a unique opportunity that can surely be listed among beneficial artistic projects. The corporation itself cooperates closely with state administration agencies (the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, for example), regions, municipalities and a whole range of sponsors and media partners. Within the framework of organizing a jazz festival in 2015 the corporation also cooperates with partners from donor countries – music bands Hakon Kornstad Ensemble “Tenor Battle” and Sunna Gunnlaugs Trio. The whole event is intended to be non-for-profit and so far it has been taking place mostly thanks to enthusiasm of organizers and understanding of regional partners. Rudy Linka, a guitar player born in Prague and living in New York, is the chairman of the corporation. Therefore, because of both its contact with the best jazz players from all over the world and experience from organizing previous Bohemia JazzFest events, the organizer has an ideal set of prerequisites necessary for a successful preparation and execution of an international jazz festival also in 2015. The Bohemia JazzFest International Music Festival takes place over two weeks (the dates for 2015 are 13th – 26th July) and events are open air, held in historical squares of towns and cities all over the Czech Republic. In 2015 the festival is planned to be organized in the cities of Domažlice, Pilsen, Brno, Zlín, Prachatice, Písek, Liberec and newly also Ostrava, which was not included in 2014. The Bohemia JazzFest is unique because it is open to general public free of charge. The attendees are not limited neither by the price of a ticket, nor by limited space, and therefore even minority groups can attend the events. Each year the festival presents the best musicians from all over the world. We are currently negotiating the participation of such globally recognized jazz musicians as Stanley Clarke, McCoy Tyner, Pat Metheny, Ravi Coltrane and Steinar Raknes for the festival of 2015. The project also brings a unique esthetic concept, which is a result of blending historical town squares with modern jazz music presented with perfect technique, great sound and supported by the ambiance, lightning and functioning services on site. There is no other cultural event within the Czech Republic that would present jazz music of top artistic quality to the domestic audience on such a scale as the Bohemia JazzFest International Music Festival. The project thus initiates an increase in interest in jazz music as a highly emotion-evoking music genre and substantially enriches the culture offer within given regions.

approximately 122 461 EUR