Popular Birmingham music festival saved despite council cuts - here’s how

Amid fears of Birmingham becoming a ‘cultural wasteland’, the organiser of a popular music festival has issued an important update about the event’s future.

Earlier this month, those behind the Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival said the event has been left in an “incredibly precarious position” as the crisis-hit Birmingham City Council said it could no longer provide financial support.

The council recently approved an alarming wave of cuts to local services, with cultural venues such as the Birmingham REP, Birmingham Royal Ballet and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra all being rocked by planned grant cuts.

The plans have been met with fierce condemnation and dismay from many in arts and culture, with Stephen Brown of the Musicians’ Union recently asking: “Do the council want to see a cultural wasteland here?”

Other figures have also voiced their concern, with Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight telling the Local Democracy Reporting Service in February: “We want to be in a city which has an environment where the arts are valued correctly.”

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Amid such uncertainty, Jim Simpson, festival director at Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival, has now confirmed that the 40th anniversary of the popular event will take place as planned from July 19 to 28 this year.

How Birmingham Jazz and Blues Festival was saved despite the council cuts

“It’s true that the city council is unable to support this most important, ever-inclusive, always diverse event this year,” he said. “But that is not going to stop us delivering a festival that the jazz and blues audience from Birmingham and the West Midlands, from throughout the rest of the UK and beyond have come to expect.”

He went on to open up about the funding woes that he has had to contend with in the past however – even having to rely on personal savings periodically “whenever the necessity arose”.

“You just do what you have to do in order to keep on going,” Mr Simpson said. “I have to say that it has been a long time since this most important arts, culture – and entertainment – event has been properly funded.

“For instance, last year the festival received only £15,000 from Birmingham City Council. This is for a festival presenting 182 performances, crucially 176 of them free admission.”

He continued that the festival was fortunate in that it has long-term funders in Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, Westside BID and the Musician’s Union as well as generous support in-kind from a host of local companies.

Mr Simpson has also launched a fundraising campaign to help with funding, with donations going towards helping sustain the festival and covering essential costs, preserving free access and marking the event’s 40th anniversary.

“We understand that times are tough for many, but we believe that together, we can overcome this challenge and ensure that the Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival continues to inspire, entertain and unite us for years to come,” Mr Simpson wrote. ‘We are having to cut our cloth accordingly’

John Cotton, leader of Birmingham City Council, said earlier this year that culture cuts were an emblem of the difficult choices they have to make amid the need to also deliver frontline services to vulnerable people.

“In an ideal world I’d prefer not to be in this position but we are having to cut our cloth accordingly,” he admitted. “We’ve got lots of investment coming into this city, lots of people locating businesses and jobs here.

“I think there’s conversations that we need to have around how we work together as a city as a whole, not just the city council, around protecting and supporting some of our cultural institutions.”

On the Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival, a spokesperson for the council said last week that the local authority had supported the event for a number of years. “Sadly, given our current challenges, it is not possible to offer financial support this year,” they added.

The council’s dire predicament is down to several issues including Birmingham-specific factors, such as a huge equal pay liability and the disastrous implementation of a new IT and finance system, as well as the rising demand for services and the impact of years of austerity.