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 Jazz beat: The new executive director for the Coastal Jazz and Blues Society hopes to expand its budget and broaden its appeal
By Glen Korstrom Fatima Amarshi aims to do for the Vancouver International Jazz Festival what she did for one of North America’s largest gay pride festivals: •nearly triple the budget; •broaden programming; and •develop a wider audience. A mere two months into her job as the Coastal Jazz and Blues Society’s executive director, Amarshi wants first to learn about the 25-year-old festival that her Coastal Jazz produces. Then comes developing a grand plan for the festival’s next 25 years. Amarshi is rested and ready for her new role. She left Pride Toronto in late 2008 to take care of her terminally ill father and has not held a full-time job since. She had increased the Toronto gay festival’s budget to $3.5 million in 2008 from $1.2 million in 2005, when she joined the organization. Before that, she held executive director roles at the small, now-defunct Desh Pradesh festival of South Asian art and music in Toronto. She also worked for different Toronto non-profit organizations as a caseworker who helped people with mental illnesses find housing, get therapy and correctly fill out forms. Originally from Tanzania, Amarshi moved to Canada when she was 10 years old. Aside from a brief excursion researching anthropology along James Bay in Quebec, the McMaster University anthropology graduate has lived in Ontario. She arrived in Vancouver in April to preside over a society that does more than produce B.C.’s best attended cultural festival. Coastal Jazz also provides jazz education in schools and produces jazz concerts year-round. It co-ordinates the annual Winterruption festival on Granville Island and operates educational jazz websites such as JazzStreetVancouver.ca. Still, Coastal Jazz is best known for its marquee 10-day jazz festival, which is scheduled to launch June 25 and feature artists such as George Benson, Joshua Redman and Chick Corea. Many jazz fans across North America consider Vancouver’s international jazz festival to be far less prestigious than events such as the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal. That irks Amarshi. She believes Vancouver’s festival produces innovative programming and excellent music. She hopes to reach out more to Asian and South Asian communities across the Lower Mainland and around the world. “We have an enormous amount of great international programming right now,” she said. “But we need to broaden that reach a bit more outside of Europe and into Asia. There’s lots of great work being done out of Hong Kong and out of India that we can certainly bring into our fold.” Amarshi is aware of the festival’s origin as a peripheral event that coasted on the festive atmosphere at Expo 86 to attract 20,000 spectators. Last year, the festival’s $4.8 million budget financed a 10-day extravaganza showcasing 1,800 musicians at 40 venues attracting more than 500,000 attendees. Amarshi oversees 12 full-time employees, 95 seasonal workers and 1,000 volunteers. As is the case with most non-profit organizations, Coastal Jazz organizers squeeze as much value as they can out of every dollar. That’s apparent from the Coastal Jazz and Blues Society’s office, which has seen better days. Skid marks from bicycle tires mar the white painted stairwell to the society’s office in a two-storey wood-frame building on West 7th Avenue near Alberta Street. Rumours persist that the festival is close to securing space on Hamilton Street in the new Canadian Broadcasting Corp. building. But Amarshi would say only that her society is working with the City of Vancouver to secure funding from its cultural amenities program. Ever alert to the big picture, Amarshi knows that her office’s location in Vancouver is not as problematic as Vancouver’s location in North America. “Vancouver is a bit out of the way,” Amarshi said. “So travel is more expensive and harder to do. … So the location is definitely tough.” What will also be tough is managing finances for the festival in an era in which government arts funding is being cut. The festival generates only 24% of its budget from its own ticket, merchandise and food sales. Approximately 48% of its revenue comes from corporate sponsorship and in-kind donations. The remaining 28% comes from grants. Amarshi estimates that her festival contributes $14 million to B.C.’s gross domestic product, has a $30 million economic impact Canada-wide and generates more than $7 million in taxes to various levels of government. The festival will almost certainly get less government support next year. Canada’s Minister of Canadian Heritage James Moore, who is also the Conservative government’s regional minister responsible for Metro Vancouver, says he supports more arts funding. “Any government that doesn’t strongly support the arts doesn’t have a plan for economic recovery,” Moore said May 18 at the Vancouver Theatresports League’s launch of its new $1 million Granville Island venue. Moore was at the event to announce that his government’s Cultural Spaces program would contribute $500,000 to help pay for the improvisational theatre troupe’s new venue. But Moore told BIV that his government won’t extend its Marquee Tourism Events program past 2010. That two-year initiative contributed $634,000 to the Vancouver International Jazz Festival in 2009 and will provide a similar amount to the festival this year. That’s the festival’s biggest single government grant. Amarshi is bracing this year for a $100,000 drop in B.C. government funding resulting from a reduction in B.C. Arts Council and gambling grants. Combined, this means that the festival could reap about $700,000 in government grants in 2011. According to Coastal Jazz’ financial statements, that’s half what it got in 2009. Regardless, Vancouver Pride Society president Ken Coolen believes that Amarshi will handle financial stresses with equanimity. “I’ve never seen Fatima flustered,” said Coolen, who has known Amarshi for years through gay pride organizing. “She has a calmness and a patience about her that is phenomenal. She handles chaos with a smile.” •
Mission: To increase the Vancouver International Jazz Festival’s budget while boosting attendance and international respect Assets: Responsible for nearly tripling Pride Toronto’s budget in three years Yield: Top job at the Coastal Jazz and Blues Society, which produces B.C.’s best-attended arts festival
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This article from Business in Vancouver May 25-31, 2010; issue 1074 |
