CELEBRATING JAZZ
SPAC president, members of the Assembly and Senate honor Saratoga Jazz Festival
ALBANY, N.Y.>> Tuesday morning on the third floor at the Million Dollar Staircase in the New York State Capitol building, members of the Assembly and Senate celebrated legislature’s passage of resolutions honoring the 40th anniversary of Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival.
“It’s wonderful to think about the opening of the art season in Saratoga Springs,” said assemblywoman Carrie Woerner.
Freihofer has sponsored Saratoga Jazz Festival since 1998.
“For us at Freihofer, it’s a very important cause. It’s us giving back to the community and building up this great event to a bigger and better one every year,” said Freihofer Baking Company’s director of sales William Sullivan. “Each year the acts get better and better and it’s very important to us to give back to the community.”
Saratoga Performing Arts Center President and CEO Elizabeth Sobol said if it wasn’t for the support of Freihofer, the jazz festival wouldn’t be possible.
“We are a not-for-profit organization,” said Sobol. “We count on philanthropy and corporate support to make all the programming possible in addition to our very important community of members and donors. But without a company like Freihofer’s, in this economy, in this day in age, I don’t know what would happen to the jazz festival.”
Sobol, who begins her first summer as SPAC President and CEO soon, said she didn’t realize the thriving jazz scene in the Capital Region.
“Having a festival like this just raises [the jazz scene] to an international level,” said Sobol. “Let’s face it. It sounds cliche but it’s not — jazz is the unique American art form, and it’s very important to support it both the traditional and the new faces of jazz that are going to keep it going for the next 100 years.”
Sobol said most of the audience for SPAC’s classical
programming come from Saratoga and the greater Saratoga area.
“An essential aspect is that this jazz festival is bringing people from all over and introducing them to the region, to the city,” she said. “People talk a lot about creative economy, well here’s a great example of how it’s working in a great way.”
The Saratoga Jazz Festival helps the community in more ways than one.
“It certainly means terrific arts being brought to us, culture being brought to us, music being brought to us,” said Sen. Kathleen Marchione. “It means an increase in business for this city. When you bring all of these people in, it’s great economic development and it’s a wonderful venue where people come to Saratoga and enjoy the ambience of what we’re known for-- horse racing, culture and just a great place to be.”
Marchione echoed Sobol’s comments about Freihofer’s impact over the last 20 years.
“They’ve been funding a great deal of the jazz festival and without it, it may not be happening,” said Marchione. “So to give back to the community like they do, and that’s a huge give back, so that others can enjoy jazz and thousands of people come every year to enjoy this...I think that’s just immeasurable.”
The 2017 Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival will be held June 24-25.