Newly Created “Lyons Lane" to Lead Fans through MJF History to the Future of Jazz in New DJ Performance Venue, “the lAUnge"
Festival Creates Village Setting for Partners to Join in Celebration of 50th MJF
Monterey, California: Noting that “It takes a village to celebrate our 50th anniversary," the Monterey Jazz Festival has announced the expansion of their grounds, including the addition of multiple opportunities for marketing partners, and the debut of a new venue featuring DJ's spinning hip-hop/re-mix/jazz/dance music.
The new village-like area will be named “Lyons Lane" in honor of Festival founder Jimmy Lyons. Located next to the Festival's Arena entrance, Lyons Lane will lead fans down a pathway of Monterey Jazz Festival history, saluting the fabled event's storied past, allowing fans to interact with partners all along the way, and leading to the music's future in a newly created venue named “the lAUnge".
“This is the most exciting marketing development I've seen in my 25 years with the Monterey Jazz Festival," noted MJF Marketing Director, Paul S. Fingerote. “We're literally creating a village for fans and partners to celebrate our past and sample our future. This will be an ideal opportunity for partners to associate their products and services with the quality, longevity and loyalty offered by our brand, the Monterey Jazz Festival."
Fingerote, who helped introduce MJF to sponsorships in 1981, noted that the new area will be ideal for partners interested in sampling opportunities, partners offering gold-related products and services, as well as partners offering an interactive and a future-oriented presence. “We're looking for partners who will help make Lyons Lane the place to be at our 50th," he said. “This will be hottest spot in Monterey."
The concept for the new area stemmed from “a confluence of three great ideas, a kind of perfect jazz storm," noted Fingerote.
“It all started with the MJF staff who will be producing the 50th wanting to leave a legacy for future fans at Monterey. That was coupled with a real need for added space on the Festival grounds. The final element came up in a conversation I had at the 49th MJF with my 22 year-old daughter, Rachel, who said to me, 'Dad, you need a place where people my age can meet, maybe have a drink, dance, and enjoy jazz.'"
The three ideas all came together at the Festival's monthly board meeting in November, where the new area/venue was unanimously approved by the MJF Board of Directors.
Lyons Lane will be located next to the entrance and exit for the 6,500-seat Arena/Lyons Stage, on the east side of the 20-acre, oak-studded site the Festival has occupied since its inception in 1958. Marquee lights will welcome fans to Lyons Lane, who--as they stroll along the pathway--will find a decade-by-decade history of the Festival and its historic jazz images.
They'll be interacting along the way, Fingerote suggested, “with sampling partners, distributing products to fans; interactive partners, offering cool experiences; gold partners, in keeping with our golden anniversary year; and future-oriented partners, who will be invited to share their visions, products, services, and plans for the future with our fans," he concluded.
At the end of Lyons Lane, MJF fans will discover “the lAUnge".
The new venue is envisioned as the hippest of hip clubs, closed during the day and opening only at dark. There will be a bouncer straight out of central casting, with fans waiting to get in behind a gold velvet rope. A cool bar, couches, dance floor, DJ's playing jazz and dance music, and a VIP area for special guests, partners and friends of the Festival will round out the lAUnge.
MJF General Manager Tim Jackson and the MJF Board of Directors added their own, equally enthusiastic support, with GM Jackson commenting “This is something we've wanted to do for Festival fans and now, with the 50th, it's the perfect timing. It's exciting for all of us to be bringing new styles of jazz and new jazz fans to the Monterey Jazz Festival."
The 50th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival will be presented September 21 - 23, 2007, with over 500 artists performing on 9 stages spread throughout the 20-acre, enclosed Monterey Fairgrounds site. A complete list of artists, events and other activities for the 50th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival will be released on March 30, 2007. Tickets for the 50th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival will go on sale on March 30, 2007.
More information on the Monterey Jazz Festival is available on their website, www.montereyjazzfestival.org. The MJF Ticket Office may be reached via phone, at 925-275-9255.
For more information contact Monterey Jazz Festival.
