By Karen Dar Woon & Meredith Bates
Board Co-Chairs
As you may know, Coastal Jazz lost its title corporate sponsor in 2022. The effects of this loss, compounded by the global pandemic and declining national arts and culture funding, have created significant challenges for our organization. Today, on Giving Tuesday, a day where the world focuses on the missions it wants to invest in, we want to be transparent about where we are, and the future of Coastal Jazz and the Vancouver International Jazz Festival.
Today, we ask you, how do you want to shape the future of Coastal Jazz and Jazz Fest?
When Coastal Jazz began, it was a bold and spirited startup—a group of friends with a vision for bringing jazz to life in Vancouver. Over the years, title sponsorships from du Maurier and later TD provided the financial security to expand our programming and invest deeply in our community. These partnerships enabled us to offer free programming, educational initiatives, experimental performances, and critical support for Vancouver’s music ecosystem.
For nearly 37 years, this financial security allowed us to thrive, to experiment, and give back to our community in huge ways. But in 2022, when we learned our title sponsor would not be renewing their partnership with us – we were losing our title sponsor – we made a deliberate choice to maintain the programming and identity that our community knows and loves.
Despite the financial strain, we kept our commitment to free events, groundbreaking performances, and music education. We continued to demonstrate our values to community-building, artistic integrity, and investment in our local music ecosystem, despite the cost it had on our organization.
We’re proud of what we’ve achieved since our loss in 2022, but the reality is that the arts funding landscape has shifted dramatically. Across Vancouver, British Columbia, and Canada, arts and culture funding has been deprioritized. Coastal Jazz, like so many other organizations, faces mounting pressures to sustain community events in a resource-strapped environment.
Here’s the truth we’ve come to understand after two years of continuous efforts…
It is unlikely that Coastal Jazz will secure a title sponsor of the same scale ever again.
Since 2022, we have worked tirelessly to find alternative funding, but the scope and scale of the festival we all love is no longer sustainable without significant changes. Each year, we’ve had to make difficult decisions to scale back, including cutting the beloved weekend at David Lam Park, reducing the number of festival days, reducing staff, minimizing operations, decreasing free programming, and adjusting our venues.
Still, we’ve remained committed to our mission. We’ve preserved free programming, launched workshops and residencies, and sustained partnerships that cultivate our music community.
Now, we’re asking you to join us at this critical juncture. Coastal Jazz is redefining what we can do and what the Jazz Festival can be in the absence of a title sponsor. Moving forward, the future of Coastal Jazz and the festival lies in the hands of our community.
This is an opportunity to reimagine what we can achieve together. With your support, Coastal Jazz can remain a vital part of Vancouver’s cultural fabric—a place where music, connection, and creativity thrive.
Again, we want to ask, how do you want to shape the future of Coastal Jazz and Jazz Fest?
In the following days, you’re going to be hearing from Coastal’s musicians, staff, and key supporters. We want you to hear their stories about the impact this organization has on Vancouver directly from them.
Please consider contributing today to help us shape the next chapter of Coastal Jazz. Together, we can build a future that honors our legacy while adapting to the challenges ahead.
Click here to donate and help us keep Vancouver’s jazz scene alive.
