Banking on longevity of jazz
ESTABLISHED by Peter Tladi in 1989, T-Musicman is one of Africa’s leading music and concert promotion companies. It’s also the organiser of the Standard Bank Joy of Jazz concert, which first took place at the Pretoria State Theatre 18 years ago.
Standard Bank and TMusicman’s enduring partnership was celebrated at the Basa Awards when the organisations received the Long Term Partnership Award for the Joy of Jazz. The award recognises companies that have significantly developed and expanded their commitment to an arts project over three years or longer. The value to the arts project, the community and the business must be apparent.
“The strategic objective of sponsoring the festival is to extend and entrench Standard Bank’s support of the arts in SA,” says head of events sponsorship at Standard Bank, Dianne Graney. “We also want to add value for our customers and to the communities we have a presence in, expose SA’s audiences to some of the world’s best performers, and give local artists an international platform. It’s also a good opportunity for us to support live music.”
It was also always the intention, however, that the Standard Bank Joy of Jazz festival would be more than a three-day long Gauteng festival providing entertainment by musical heavyweights.
“The project includes a programme to reach audiences and communities who don’t and can’t attend the festival through initiatives such as Jazz Cares (which stages events for guests who include the aged, people with disabilities, and community workers in organisations like hospices and orphanages),” she says. “There are also free concerts around the country in the build-up to the festival known as Road to Joy of Jazz, musical workshops featuring some of the headline acts to teach students, and a cultural exchange programme to share skills and knowledge.”
With the festival’s move from Newtown to the Sandton Convention Centre last year, the organisers and sponsors look forward to the continued growth of the event, which starts on Thursday.