The 2009 Portland Jazz Festival will go on after all, organizers announced Wednesday, after Alaska Airlines donated $100,000 over two years to save the festival.
Money was tight. Organizers had already canceled the Portland Jazz Festival, and now staffers were ready to cut off the office phone when “The Call" came.
Seattle-based Alaska Airlines was on the phone. The company wanted to help save the festival at the eleventh hour.
“It was my all-time favorite cold call," said Sarah Bailen Smith, co-founder of the jazz festival.
Bailen Smith announced Wednesday that the sixth-annual Portland Jazz Festival is back on for Feb. 13-22, after Alaska Airlines donated $100,000 over the next two years.
The large donation has also helped the festival raise tens of thousands of dollars from other donors, who were originally skeptical that organizers could raise enough to save the festival, staff members said.
“We are putting on our track shoes," Bailen Smith said. “We are contacting our landlord, insurance company, all the artists and agents in New York and artists across the world," to let them know the festival is back on.
The nonprofit, which had only two-full time employees, will have a new management structure that will play a larger role in fundraising.
Money was tight. Organizers had already canceled the Portland Jazz Festival, and now staffers were ready to cut off the office phone when “The Call" came.
Seattle-based Alaska Airlines was on the phone. The company wanted to help save the festival at the eleventh hour.
“It was my all-time favorite cold call," said Sarah Bailen Smith, co-founder of the jazz festival.
Bailen Smith announced Wednesday that the sixth-annual Portland Jazz Festival is back on for Feb. 13-22, after Alaska Airlines donated $100,000 over the next two years.
The large donation has also helped the festival raise tens of thousands of dollars from other donors, who were originally skeptical that organizers could raise enough to save the festival, staff members said.
“We are putting on our track shoes," Bailen Smith said. “We are contacting our landlord, insurance company, all the artists and agents in New York and artists across the world," to let them know the festival is back on.
The nonprofit, which had only two-full time employees, will have a new management structure that will play a larger role in fundraising.
For more information contact All About Jazz.
