Top names for Rye International Jazz & Blues Festival 2025

SussexWorld

Times are tough, but director Ian Bowden is delighted with the programme he has put together for the 2025 Rye International Jazz & Blues Festival which returns from Thursday, August 21 to Monday, August 25.

Transcript

00:00yeah of course good afternoon my name is phil hewitt group arts editor for sausage newspapers

00:05lovely to speak again to ian bowden now ian you are the director of the rye international jazz

00:12and blues festival and you're back late august it looks a fantastic program but it's a fantastic

00:19program in tricky times for challenging times for festivals but you must be pleased with what you've

00:25put together for this year well absolutely phil i mean you know we've got a great lineup a real

00:30diversity of different styles of music that are all genetically linked to the music we we present

00:35so afro you know afro jazz we've got r&b soul with ruby turner we've got you know more contemporary

00:42jazz styles um and then we've got the funk we've got the acid jazz with jtq there's a real nice

00:49balance and mixture of music there for everybody and then of course the free music that we do as

00:53well so there's a lovely balance with everything based around the seven headline concerts but the

00:58free music is really really important to you is creating the festival vibe and that funding wise

01:05is what presents the challenge isn't it you do have to bring in a pretty big chunk 60 odd thousand

01:11pounds worth of sponsorship a year and these days that is really difficult isn't it it is hard it is

01:17hard but you know you have to sort of be so determined and i think the word i would use um i'm sure

01:23many festival organizers and producers would would understand this the word resilience has to come

01:28into play here because you have to be so resilient and so determined and you have your highs and lows

01:34on the journey raising the money phil i mean you'll have one week when you actually wow fantastic you get

01:39a great response and people are on board and then the following week you'll have two or three rejections

01:43and you just have to dig deep because you know how how much how much positiveness the free music

01:51brings to the festival and you know how much people enjoy it so it keeps you going somehow

01:55well i was going to say to you resilience is all about knowing why you're doing something isn't it so

02:01why are you doing this thing well i ask myself that question every morning actually to be honest with you

02:08i i i know i know the answer to it and it's the joy that music brings to people and just to see

02:15people their faces light up and people dancing and people enjoy themselves is is just so rewarding

02:21it's it's a bit like a drug really phil in a strange kind of you know strange kind of masochistic

02:27way because you're working so hard to make this music happen but you actually want everyone to have

02:33such a great time but you go through that emotional roller coaster of having to raise the money in

02:38order to give people a great time and i think that's just part and parcel of you know isn't it

02:43it sure is it sure is and and that's that's what drives you on really more than anything else but

02:49it's months of work just dedicating to raising the money the doing of the festival is um is exciting

02:55um but it's something we we've learned to do over the years and we're always improving but

03:00the stressful points is actually raising the funding that's it that's the hard part oh well

03:06i'm sure you're very nearly there ian congratulations on a great program it's the rye international jazz

03:12and blues festival august the 21st to monday the 25th good luck with everything congratulations

03:20congratulations on putting it together good to talk to you thank you phil thanks very much

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