The organisers of this year;s Jamaica Jazz and Blues festival has advised journalists via letter of changes as it regards to accreditation and access to the venue and performers. Please see letter below:
December 22, 2011
Greetings Media Professional,
Thank you for your continued interest in the Jamaica Jazz & Blues Festival, The Art of Music, scheduled for the Trelawny Stadium from January 26 through to January 28, 2012.
2012 is a significant year for the Festival. Despite a harsh economic climate, Jazz will kick off Jamaica’s Jubilee celebrations, showcase one of the greatest acts to ever grace our stage, enjoy venue layout enhancement and oversee a transformation from TurnKey Productions to the Art of Music Productions (AMP) as the producers of the landmark Festival.
These notable features of the sixteenth staging of Jazz’ brings with them a paradigm shift in the way that media accreditation is handled and how media will access the venue and performers.
As a result of this shift, media accreditation will not be open to general applications. Instead, both local and international media will be invited to attend and cover the Festival by AMP based on various factors including sponsorship and previous coverage. However, previous coverage does not guarantee an invitation will be extended. Media invitations will be issued by Friday, January 6, at the latest (if not before). Note, invited media will also experience changes in venue access, front of stage, artiste access, which will be outlined further in a separate communication.
Media professionals who are not invited are welcome to attend and cover the Festival but will not receive any special access to the venue or artistes. Tickets for the Festival are on sale now at various locations locally and online for international media.
Applications for media accreditation will not be accepted nor reviewed.
AMP will provide to all media, access to broadcast print quality material from the Festival, including photographs, performance video and artiste interviews (without presenter) via a secure website which can be used for coverage purposes.
Like all changes, we know that the change from the previous media accreditation policy to the new policy may seem challenging. However, the changes are necessary to provide equitable access to an ever increasing media landscape.
We thank you for your continued support of the 2012 JAMAICA Jazz and Blues Festival – The Art of Music.
Regards,
Carlette DeLeon