Rochester is known for its festivals, and the annual Jazz Festival is the undisputed jewel in the crown. But some people, including a member of City Council, say that the festival is treated like a favorite child and that it’s time to insist on more transparency.
The City of Rochester will put together a committee to review all of the festivals that get city funding, including the Jazz Festival. And groups for the first time will have to fill out an application to request that funding.
The city’s process up until this point has been much more informal, says City Council member Elaine Spaull, and that has led to questions of fairness. Spaull chairs council’s Arts and Culture Committee, which will be involved in the festival review.
Of particular interest are the in-kind services that the city provides to some festivals, such as police, fire, and clean-up, and whether some festivals get more assistance than they should.
“That’s really the scope,” Spaull says, “to find out if there is inequity and how we’re going to deal with it.”
The review committee’s findings are due in February.
The committee will also look at transparency, Spaull says. Some people say, for example, that since the Jazz Festival gets money and support from the city, that festival organizers should reveal how much money the festival makes each year.
“My issue is that they’ve never done that, and they’re a for-profit entity,” says City Council member Adam McFadden. “I respect what they do. I respect the Jazz Festival. But the accommodations that we make for them, we don’t do for anybody else. If you look at something like SummerFest, we have that information.”
Marc Iacona, the Jazz Festival’s co-producer and executive director, says that the city’s support, including police services, is critical to the event.
“We simply cannot deliver free shows that attract these large audiences to our city without the city’s support,” he says.
This article appears in Dec 16-22, 2015.
I find this new need to research about the financials of festivals by the City humorous at best. The city continues to bury the real cost of the new Marina Project in layer after layer of accounting and department accounts. They plan on spending $108,000 on research about attracting cruise lines to Rochester when information is very clear that if you could attract all 100% of the cruises of the major Great Lakes cruise lines which cruise Lake Ontario, it would be 26, now there are 6 which stop in Rochester for less than a day. Then there is the 26 million to fill in the east end of the inner loop. Lastly we have the quickly advancing vote on a solar farm at the old Emerson St Landfill which will cost the taxpayers millions of dollars while presenting the project as saving the city money on electricity. Need I go on. A city government which is anything but transparent should probably clean up its act before attempting to control the festivals which does nothing but bring revenues to lots of Rochester businesses. This is just another way to strong arm Rochester businesses which are successful.
Cost per attendee might be considered as well as economic impact and effect on the city’s image. The Fringe Festival is complaining? An honest study would reveal it should just go away. And how did the Big Rib BBQ & Blues and Backyard Burger Fests come on the scene. I recall a local TV reporter, who sees funding as an issue, interviewing an RBTL representative, while Irondequot was taking action against Medley Center,.being assured the theater project was OK. Wonder why she didn’t say you’ve said that for 20 years. She must realize the amount asked for that project would cover Jazz Festival support for well over 300 years.
I agree with Bill Brown about the significant spending that goes on without good justification. However, that doesn’t mean that the city shouldn’t have more transparency with how much funding it gives to which festivals. In particular, of course, is the question about why the for-profit festival which refuses to open its books deserves the public support that it does, while other festivals, many of which are non-profit, not only don’t receive support, but have to pay significantly for services such as police.
This thread has turned into a personal dialogue among several readers so we’ve deleted most of the comments. Stick to discussing issues, please, and build your personal sandbox offline. Many thanks.