Support the Brecon Jazz Festival 2009

**********PRESS RELEASE 17th Feb 2009************

It has been announced that there will be a jazz festival in Brecon in 2009. Visit www.breconfringe.co.uk for more info. The petition will run however, until all is signed, sealed & delivered.

Thanks for your support.

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Brecon Jazz Festival celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2008 but the organisation running the festival went into liquidation and now the future of one of Wales' foremost annual cultural events is under threat.

The Arts Council of Wales designated funding for a festival in 2009 and interested parties have submitted bids for this funding to host a new Brecon Jazz Festival.

Unfortunately, the Arts Council of Wales has now announced that this funding will be witheld until 2010.

This decision was based on their view that there would not enough time to organise a jazz festival of international status. However the contenders who put in bids for 2009 were aware of the timescale and would have taken this into account when preparing their proposals.

If Brecon Jazz Festival were to be postponed for a year there could be serious consequences, both for the economy of Brecon and for the sustainability of the festival.

At a time when the UK's economy is suffering and businesses are struggling, major cultural events are a vital contribution to local and national economy. The Arts Council of Wales should be making every endeavour to ensure that Brecon Jazz Festival goes ahead in 2009 and should not prompt a gap year which would be detrimental to its future.

We would like to bring the matter of funding from the Arts Council of Wales for a jazz festival in Brecon in 2009 to the attention of Wales’ Minister for Heritage, Alun Ffred Jones in the hope that he will support us in our quest to release the funds and enable the successful contender to put on Brecon Jazz Festival this year.