Beaches International Jazz Festival

Last updated
A performance at the 2005 Beaches International Jazz Festival BeachesJazzFestival2005 KewBeachGrandstand July24-05.jpg
A performance at the 2005 Beaches International Jazz Festival

The Beaches International Jazz Festival is a month-long music festival held each year in the lakeside Beaches community of Toronto in July. Originally started in 1989, [1] it is now one of Canada's largest free jazz festivals with nearly 1,000,000 attendees, throughout its month-long span. [2]

Contents

The Festival takes place across a number of venues; stage concerts are held in several different parks within the area and also along a two kilometre stretch of the Beach mainstreet during StreetFest - Queen Street East.

In 2022, the Festival returned to a full program of live concerts following several years of both live and virtual events due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [3]

Programming and venues

Every year, the Festival brings in internationally acclaimed jazz performers while also showcasing local talent, including "new generation" jazz musicians. The Festival now hires around 1000 artists per annum, including 50 bands for its "StreetFest" event along Queen Street East. The Festival offers concerts at various locations: the Woodbine Park Main Stage, Jimmie Simpson Park Main Stage, Big Band Stage, SING! A capella Stage . [4] The Festival holds a Workshop and Lecture Series which varies each year and is programmed to appeal to both professional musicians and to the general jazz loving public.

Community support and funding

BIJF garners community support due to the community events it supports. These include: a "Jazz-Up Your Windows" Beach BIA - BIJF jointly sponsored contest for local retailers and multiple fundraising opportunities for local charities such as the "Beaches Jazz Tune-Up Run" on behalf of the Beach Rotary Club, Community Centre 55 and the Michael Garron Hospital. The BIJF benefits the local economy, injecting over $30 million into the GTA.

Although the festival is funded by the province's Ministry of Tourism and Culture, funding is also sourced from community donations. In November 2013, the Government of Canada donated $200,000 as part of the Department of Canadian Heritage funding program. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Beaches, Toronto</span> Neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

The Beaches is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is so named because of its four beaches situated on Lake Ontario. It is located east of downtown within the "Old" City of Toronto. The approximate boundaries of the neighbourhood are from Victoria Park Avenue on the east to Kingston Road on the north, along Dundas Street to Coxwell Avenue on the west, south to Lake Ontario. The Beaches is part of the east-central district of Toronto.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian National Exhibition</span> Annual event held in Toronto

The Canadian National Exhibition (CNE), also known as The Exhibition or The Ex, is an annual event that takes place at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on the third Friday of August leading up to and including Labour Day, the first Monday in September. With approximately 1.6 million visitors each year, the CNE is Canada's largest annual community event and one of the top fairs in North America. The fair is a combination of agricultural exhibits and events, carnival rides and entertainment, live music, food and special events. Special events include the Warriors Day Parade, the Labour Day Parade and the Canadian International Air Show.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harbourfront, Toronto</span> Neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Harbourfront is a neighbourhood on the northern shore of Lake Ontario within the downtown core of the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Part of the Toronto waterfront, Harbourfront extends from Bathurst Street in the west, along Queens Quay, with its ill-defined eastern boundary being either Yonge Street or York Street. Its northern boundary is the Gardiner Expressway. Much of the district was former water lots filled in during the early 1900s to create a larger harbour district. After shipping patterns changed and the use of the Toronto harbour declined, the area was converted from industrial uses to a mixed-use district that is mostly residential and leisure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Montreal International Jazz Festival</span> Annual music festival held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada

The Montreal International Jazz Festival is an annual jazz festival held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Montreal Jazz Fest holds the 2004 Guinness World Record as the world's largest jazz festival. Every year it features roughly 3,000 artists from 30-odd countries, more than 650 concerts, and welcomes over 2 million visitors as well as 300 accredited journalists. The festival takes place at 20 different stages, which include free outdoor stages and indoor concert halls.

CBC Music is a Canadian FM radio network operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It used to concentrate on classical and jazz. In 2007 and 2008, the network transitioned towards a new "adult music" format with a variety of genres, with the classical genre generally restricted to midday hours. In 2009, Radio 2 averaged 2.1 million listeners weekly, and it was the second-largest radio network in Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Centennial College (Canada)</span> College in Toronto, Canada

The Centennial College of Applied Arts and Technology is a public college in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the oldest publicly funded college in Ontario. Its campuses are situated on the east side of the city, particularly in Scarborough, with an aerospace centre at Downsview Park in North York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caribana</span> Caribbean festival in Toronto

The Toronto Caribbean Carnival, formerly and affectionately known as Caribana, is a festival of Caribbean culture and traditions held each summer in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is a pan-Caribbean Carnival event and has been billed as North America's largest Festival, frequented by over 1.3 million tourists each year for the festival's Grand Parade and an overall attendance of 2.3 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ottawa Jazz Festival</span>

Spanning all genres and inspirations of jazz, swing, jive, fusion jazz, hot jazz, boogie, diverse cultures and traditions, the Ottawa Jazz Festival has been a trailblazer for more than 40 years in Ottawa, Canada. As the only outdoor music festival in the city's downtown core, Jazz Fest highlights, "a wide range of Canadian and international musical greats to Canada's capital, " as well as, new and emerging talent that covers the spectrum from pop, rock to lush harmonies. As a jazz festival, its core purpose is to provide a diverse range of jazz programming, but also includes music spanning genres such as blues, rock and indie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival</span> Annual music festival

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival is an annual celebration of local music and culture held at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, Louisiana. Jazz Fest attracts thousands of visitors to New Orleans each year. The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation Inc., as it is officially named, was established in 1970 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (NPO). The Foundation is the original organizer of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell Oil Company, a corporate financial sponsor. The Foundation was established primarily to redistribute the funds generated by Jazz Fest into the local community. As an NPO, their mission further states that the Foundation "promotes, preserves, perpetuates and encourages the music, culture and heritage of communities in Louisiana through festivals, programs and other cultural, educational, civic and economic activities". The founders of the organization included pianist and promoter George Wein, producer Quint Davis and the late Allison Miner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waterfront Trail</span> Pedestrian and bicycle trail system in Ontario, Canada

Stretching over 3600 km from Prince Township, west of Sault Ste. Marie, to the Quebec border, the Great Lakes Waterfront Trail is a signed route of interconnecting roads and off-road trails joining over 150 communities and First Nations along the Canadian shores of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. A celebration of nature and culture, the Great Lakes Waterfront Trail is part of a strategy to protect and connect people to the largest group of freshwater lakes on earth. It is a legacy project of the Waterfront Regeneration Trust, a charity, and its community partners. Through Toronto, the trail is called the Martin Goodman Trail. The Waterfront Trail is also used by commuters in parts of Southern Ontario.


The Chicago Jazz Festival is an admission-free, four-day annual jazz festival in Chicago's Millennium Park. It is run by the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events and programmed with the assistance of Jazz Institute of Chicago during Labor Day weekend, integrating international and local artists playing many forms of jazz music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CNE Bandshell</span> Concert venue in Toronto, Canada

The CNE Bandshell is an open-air concert venue in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located at Exhibition Place on the shores of Lake Ontario. Built in 1936, it hosts the annual music program of the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) and is also used for festivals and picnic events, for which the "Bandshell Park" can be rented from the City of Toronto.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Culture in Toronto</span> Overview of the culture of Toronto, Canada

Toronto is the largest city in Canada and one of the most multicultural cities in the world. Many immigrant cultures have brought their traditions languages and music to Toronto. Toronto, the capital of the province of Ontario, is a major Canadian city along Lake Ontario's northwestern shore. It's a dynamic metropolis with a core of soaring skyscrapers, all dwarfed by the iconic, free-standing CN Tower. Toronto also has many green spaces, from the orderly oval of Queen's Park to 400-acre High Park and its trails, sports facilities and zoo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inside Out Film and Video Festival</span>

The Inside Out Film and Video Festival, also known as the Inside Out LGBT or LGBTQ Film Festival, is an annual Canadian film festival, which presents a program of LGBT-related film. The festival is staged in both Toronto and Ottawa. Founded in 1991, the festival is now the largest of its kind in Canada. Deadline dubbed it "Canada’s foremost LGBTQ film festival."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red Bank Jazz & Blues Festival</span>

The Red Bank Jazz & Blues Festival, also sometimes known as Red Bank Riverfest, was a music festival that took place the first weekend in June each year in Red Bank, New Jersey. Sited at Marine Park along the Navesink River, the festival was in operation between 1987 and 2016. Organized during some of this time by the non-profit Jersey Shore Jazz & Blues Foundation, the festival typically ran from Friday late afternoon through Sunday late afternoon, and according to varying estimates attracted some 80,000 to 150,000 people over the three days. It was said to be the largest free event of its kind in the Northeast United States.

The FIFA Fan Festivals are public viewing events organized by FIFA and the host cities during the FIFA World Cup. FIFA Fan Festivals followed the success of public viewing at the 2002 FIFA World Cup in South Korea and became an essential part of the tournament since the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. Fan Festivals take place in iconic locations of the host cities and feature broadcasts of football matches on giant screens, live concerts, parties, food, beverages, and other activities and entertainment. In 2022, FIFA reintroduced Fan Festivals under the new name for the 2022 FIFA World Cup held in Qatar.

Now known as the Toronto Caribbean Carnival, Caribana began as a one-time celebration of the Canadian Centennial in Ontario's provincial capital city. The festival continues to bring a full display of Caribbean culture and traditions, attracting more than a million viewers each year. Caribana has continued to draw people from across the world to Toronto, with travellers coming from places such as the Caribbean, Europe and the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leopolis Jazz Fest</span>

Leopolis Jazz Fest is an international jazz festival, annually held in June in Lviv (Ukraine) since 2011. The Guardian included Leopolis Jazz Fest in the list of the best European festivals.

References

  1. Goddard, Peter. "Beaches Jazz Festival rebounds in 26th year". Toronto Star . Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  2. Marsden, Carey. "Beaches Jazz Fest gets new stages, sponsors after funding snag". Global News. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  3. Shackleton, Al (2022-06-30). "Beaches International Jazz Festival is back with live concerts and StreetFest celebration on Queen Street East this July". Beach Metro Community News. Retrieved 2024-01-12.
  4. AALGAARD, TODD. "Dancing in the Streets: Beaches International Jazz Festival hits the asphalt this week with StreetFest". PostCity. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  5. "Harper Government Invests in the Beaches International Jazz Festival". Department of Canadian Heritage . Government of Canada . Retrieved 23 July 2014.

43°40′09″N79°17′54″W / 43.66925°N 79.29835°W / 43.66925; -79.29835