Isle of Wight Jazz Weekend
IW Jazz Weekend 2020 cancelled - 19 March 2020
It will come as no surprise to you, that the organisers of the Isle of Wight Jazz Weekend have been forced to take the difficult and sad decision to postpone the 2020 event which was scheduled for 27-31 May.
Our ability to stage the event was already looking questionable even before the UK Government issued advice “to stop non-essential contact with others and to stop all unnecessary travel” along with the call to “Avoid pubs, clubs, theatres and other such social venues.” We are also very much aware that restrictions on those aged 70 or over, would account for a substantial part of our audience.
It would have been irresponsible of us to go ahead with our Jazz Weekend this coming May - in any event, five of our venues have now closed for at least three months, so we could not host a festival even if we wished to take the huge gamble to do so. Regrettably we have decided to postpone the Isle of Wight Jazz Weekend until the first week of June 2021 in light of the Government advice. A decision had to be made now before we reached the point of no return and incurred large financial costs. As a voluntary organisation with very little sponsorship and no Arts Council funding either in 2019 or this year, we cannot take such risks.
The current plan is:
- All ticket sales will be refunded in full.
- The Isle of Wight Jazz Weekend will return from 2 - 6 June 2021 and we will offer all 2020 headline acts the opportunity to play in 2021 (many have already accepted our invitation).
- We will keep a very careful eye on how things pan out over the next few months, and will make all efforts to put on a small jazz event perhaps over one or two days, on the Isle of Wight later this year, if possible.
We hope everyone looks after themselves and each other over the coming months.
IW Jazz Weekend team