Wangaratta Festival of Jazz & Blues postpones 30th anniversary celebrations until 2020

The festival has cancelled its 2019 iteration, pushing back its 30th anniversary until next year in order to develop new strategies around sustainability and longevity.

Image via Shutterstock

Operational pressures, a lack of transparency around festival management, and the need to reimagine fundraising models have been cited as the primary reasons for the cancellation of the 2019 Wangaratta Festival of Jazz & Blues.

First held in 1990, the festival usually takes place in late October – early November in the regional Victorian city of Wangaratta, 260 kilometres north-east of Melbourne.

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Richard Watts is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM, and serves as the Chair of La Mama Theatre's volunteer Committee of Management. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, and was awarded the status of Melbourne Fringe Living Legend in 2017. In 2020 he was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize. Most recently, Richard was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Green Room Awards Association in June 2021. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts