Barbados Jazz Festival 2011
First of all, on behalf of GMR International Tours Inc., the producers of the Barbados Jazz Festival let me formally place on record our sincere appreciation for the support which it has received from all sponsors during the 18 years of its existence. As you may recall, it was in 1993 that the first Barbados Jazz Festival made its debut as a tourism product designed primarily to attract visitors and diversify the product offering to visitors.
In both of these objectives the evidence shows that the Festival has been successful. Over the years it has grown from an event over the Martin Luther King weekend to a cultural experience that fed and nurtured the art form at the local level. Layered to meet all tastes in jazz, from the purist to the general music lover, the Festival also supported the Barbados Jazz Academy (children’s workshops given by some of the most renowned jazz masters) to the promotion of “young jazz” where junior jazz musicians, mainly pulled from school incubators, were given the opportunity to share a stage with some of the genre’s best.
It is because of this role that the Festival has come to play in the Barbados economic and cultural life that, in spite of rising costs and eventually raging recession, the producers have continued to juggle the almost impossible task to keep the Festival intact and at its expected quality, offering and billing.
One can therefore imagine the heaviness of heart with which we announce that as a result of the prevailing environment we will not be able to stage the Barbados Jazz Festival 2011 as we had sincerely hoped. Our delay in making this announcement is rooted in the fact that we were exploring all possibilities which may have resulted in our being able to produce the festival for 2011 especially at this time when our nation requires all assistance possible with regards to tourism related events.
Unfortunately this was not to be and after much internal discussion and other consultations, it is with much regret that we must now advise that GMR International Tours Inc. as the producers of the Barbados Jazz Festival will not be in a position to mount the Festival this year. We have not totally abandoned the concept of the Festival and hope that in the coming months we may be able to sow the seeds of its early return.
It was indeed an honour for the name of the Barbados Jazz Festival to be associated with yours, and again I want to express appreciation for the invaluable assistance that the Festival has received during the years. We know that there were times when it was certainly not easy but always your commitments were honoured. We therefore look forward to finding the solutions which would return the Festival to its rightful place among the best jazz festivals in the world and the première jazz festival of the Caribbean.
Sincerely
GILBERT M. ROWE
G.M.R INTERNATIONAL TOURS INC.