Let There Be Music
Building on the success of the inaugural festival in 2022, we are fundraising to deliver a high-quality and vibrant free community music programme as part of the 2023 Sidmouth Jazz and Blues Festival.
The Sidmouth International Jazz & Blues Festival takes place from 25 - 29 May over the bank holiday weekend, featuring headline concerts, international artistes and a vast programme of free community music events.
Since the pandemic, sponsorship and avenues for grant funding have been seriously impacted. We are seeking to raise funding from the public and the wider business community to ensure that the festival can deliver on its promise and vision to bring incredible free live music to the East Devon community.
- Outdoor community music stage: Three days of free live music from 27-29 May, presenting the finest, jazz, soul, blues, latin and world music. 6 outstanding and diverse acts per day featuring emerging and established music talent from across the region and further afield in the beautiful setting of Blackmore Gardens.
- Street music and marching bands: Bringing a New Orleans vibe to the streets of Sidmouth, with colour, vibrancy and fun.
- Children's music and arts workshops: Inspiring future generations in music and the arts.
Your donation however small or large is greatly appreciated. Your support will will enable us to unite the wider community through the joy and wellbeing that music provides.
Your donation will go directly towards the performance fees, staging, lighting, sound and infrastructure; and the team and materials to deliver the children's workshops. The festival's community music programme will be determined by the combined total raised by individuals, patrons, businesses and grant funding. We are reaching for the stars so please show your support. Thank you.
Testimonial
I have lived in Sidmouth for over 35 years and the inaugural 2022 Jazz festival was unquestionably the best organised, most enlivening and enriching
event I have ever witnessed here.
The town with its stunning setting and plentiful accommodation is the perfect setting on the south Devon and Dorset coastline, for such an event.
I hope it will become an annual and growing feature of the town and help to give Sidmouth another reason to be. It can attract a bigger variety of people to the town and massively widen the cultural appeal of the region.
They will need ongoing help and encouragement to now make it burgeon into the long-term game changing event that we need and that the changing
demographic in Sidmouth will gladly embrace.
Edward Willis Fleming, Sidmouth Design
Background
Launched in 2022 the inaugural Sidmouth International Jazz and Blues Festival took place from Thursday 2 to Sunday 5 June in the stunning and picturesque Regency town of Sidmouth, East Devon.
The festival was incredibly well received and attended by 10,000 visitors from across the Southwest, who travelled from Devon, Dorset, and parts of Cornwall and Somerset.
We are a boutique high-quality and diverse music festival and in 2022 our programme included ticketed headline concerts in the intimate setting of Sidmouth Parish church, with acclaimed and respected artistes from the world of jazz and blues such as UK Queen of Soul, Mica Paris, jazz singer, pianist and composer Joe Stilgoe, Bluesman Ian Siegal, The Ronnie Scott’s All Stars, and virtuoso jazz guitarist Antonio Forcione.
Our outdoor performance stage was in the centre of Sidmouth where we showcased amazing regional musicians performing the coolest jazz, swing, blues, RnB, Latin, funk, soul, and Cuban music over four days with an eclectic and diverse range of quality music.
We also presented an array of exceptional free music at fringe venues in the town, at pubs and cafes. The atmosphere in the town during the festival was electric and was enjoyed my so many.
Our vision is to continue to bring wellbeing through the power of music; an artistic programme of quality, diversity and inclusivity that will engage the wider communities of not only Devon but also the Southwest and enhance tourism and provide economic and cultural benefits to the region.