Jazz festival blues

Organisers of the Cape Town International Jazz Festival do not expect to break even financially, despite the event being sold out early.

Rashid Lombard, the espAfrika CEO, said yesterday that, barring any further "drawn out bureaucratic process", the proposed expansion of Cape Town's International Convention Centre would help expand its current capacity from the current 34000.

In his budget speech last week, the Western Cape MEC for economic development and tourism, Alan Winde, said the province "would like to see the jazz festival grow even bigger".

The proposed expansion of the convention centre would double its size.

Visitor numbers are projected to reach 470000 by 2018.

To achieve this, Winde said, R161.7-million would be contributed to construction costs by the province.

Lombard said he had considered increasing the price of tickets for the festival to make it more "exclusive" and guarantee a higher revenue.

"We would like to grow and have bigger numbers, especially if you look at the lack of sponsorship we've been getting - we've found it hard to break even."

The festival's books were in the black in 2010 but it was nothing like the "bumper" year expected, despite the soccer World Cup factor.

The entire festival cost R35-million to stage, with the Department of Arts and Culture contributing R7-million.

It is expected that the revenue figures will be similar to those of last year's festival, which contributed R498-million to the province's coffers and about R800-million to the national economy.

"If we had set sponsorship, we could do forward planning. We could book headline acts as early as now for 2014 and that would guarantee us good rates," Lombard added.

Winde said: "Last week, the team of architects who will oversee the expansion of the Cape Town International Convention Centre to almost double its current size was announced.

"This expansion means that the centre will no longer have to turn down bookings and can play an even bigger role in creating growth and jobs in Western Cape."

US hip-hop and soul singer Lauryn Hill closed the festival, which also featured musicians Dave Koz, James Ingram, Hugh Masekela, Zahara, Lindiwe Suttle, Patti Austin and Zamajobe.

Lombard said he hoped that the festival would be structured like the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, for which "all hotels, restaurants and the host city, and all structures of government, get together and contribute" to the event's success.